ITEC 380 2011fall ibarland

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ITEC380: Programming Languages

• practice exam02 (and solutions) posted.
• hw08-soln posted.

ITEC380 is an introduction to the study of programming languages. Topics include:

• History and families of programming languages.
• Data abstraction, and first-class functions.
• Writing programs in various paradigms (incl. functional and declarative).
• Writing a small interpeter.

Course Information, 2011.fall

• Time/Place: MoWeFr 14:00–15:00, Davis 212.
• Instructor info Ian Barland, , Davis 230, 540-831x5977.
  If you email me (rather than post on the D2L discussion board), please include “ITEC380” in the subject. I will rarely reply to emails past 22:00.
• Office hours:
  MWF 09:00-10:15,
     WF 15:00-16:15,
  M      15:00-15:30,
      H   15:00-16:15 virtual (breeze.radford.edu, meeting “ibarland”)
  or by appointment.
• Text:

  Robert Sebesta, Concepts of Programming Languages (9e or 8e) (publ. Addison Wesley, ISBN 978-0-136-07347-5).		You are welcome to buy a used copy of the book (the older 8th edition); I will provide any reading/exercise numbers for each edition.
  (Optional fun:) Joshua Bloch and Neal Gafter, Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases, publ. Addison-Wesley, ISBN 978-0321336781).		So, you think you know Java? Nearly 100 one-page puzzles, each illustrating how language design choices can have unintended consequences. Nice bedtime reading.

• Evaluation:

  Exams (2) & Quizzes	40%
  Assignments and Projects	60%

  Clarity counts in all work for this class (including spelling, grammar, and layout).

  There will some short quizzes in class; fair game for these quizzes include definitions and examples from the assigned reading, as well as any previous homework problems.

• Campus Closings In the event of a University-wide emergency or unscheduled close (as for inclement weather¹), we will instead hold class virtually via Breeze (link at top of class pages). In the case of a multi-day emergency or closure, the course policies on this page are subject to change. Monitor D2L and this course web page for any announcements.

• Assignment details Some homeworks will be primarily written responses to book questions; others will be small programming projects. You will write programs in several paradigms: Functional programming (Racket/Scheme/Lisp), Declarative programming (Prolog), and scripting languages (Ruby or Python). In each language, you'll have a small assignment to familiarize yourself with the language, and a larger one solving a typical problem. We will be contrasting our approaches with paradigms you're already familiar with (Procedural (Ada, C) and Object-oriented (Java, C++)).

  If you have your own computer, you will want to download DrRacket, for the functional programming part of this course. (DrRacket is also available on lab computers.)

• Late Policy: No late homework is accepted. All homework is due at the start of class on the due-date. If you know in advance you won't be able to turn in homework on time (e.g. participating in university sports) you must get permission in advance to turn the homework in late. For significant illness or family crisis without advance notice (but with later documentation), contact the professor as soon as possible to arrange to catch up on the work.

  However, you will be able to submit up to one “do-over” during the semester:

  • You may re-do a homework/project and re-submit it within one week from when that homework was returned. For example, if hw03 gets passed back on a Wednesday, you can re-submit it through the start of class the following Wednesday.
  • The maximum points possible on a do-over is 85% of the possible. (If you are already getting near 85% on assignments, there is no need to re-do them.)
  • You can submit a do-over even if you didn't submit the homework on-time.
  • While you can look at your graded assignment the posted solution before starting a do-over, you must write/type the do-over from scratch, without referring to the solution or your previous attempt.
  • You are encouraged to come to office hours before starting a do-over, to make sure you understand why you lost points originally.

• Honor Policy: As with all your RU classes, the university honor code governs all work turned in.

  You are encouraged to discuss and interpret the homeworks and general approaches to solutions with your fellow students. However, You must be the direct author of all your submitted work. If you had worked through a homework problem while talking with a friend, you must re-write it on your own, without referring to your draft version. If you got significant advice which you'd like to credit somebody for, cite them in your work.

• Other University Resources: Radford has many resources to help you in different ways, including the student counseling services (x5226), and the Learning Assistance Resource Center (“LARC”, x7704, www.radford.edu/~larc, ).

  If you need any special accomodations for a class, and have registered with the Disability Resource Office (x6350, Tyler Hall Suite 64), please contact the professor at the start of the semester.

  Our final exam slot (sect.01) is Dec.13 (Tue) 10:15.

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©2011, Ian Barland, Radford University Last modified 2011.Dec.10 (Sat)

Please mail any suggestions (incl. typos, broken links) to ibarlandradford.edu