ITEC 380 2013fall ibarland aaray

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ITEC380: Programming Languages

• See (and bookmark) D2L for: news, discussions, dropbox, quizzes, grades. This web page's navbar links are intended for all handouts: mostly lectures and homework files.

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

• History of programming languages
• Brief survey of programming paradigms
• Functional languages, and functions as values
• Declarative, non-algorithmic languages
• Declaration models (binding, visibility, scope, and lifetime)
• Writing recursive function over recursive data (lists, trees)
• Parsing (concrete and abstract syntax, abstract syntax trees)
• Application of context-free grammars in recursive-descent parsing
• Assigning semantics to a parse tree

• Describe the salient characteristics of several language paradigms (procedural, object-oriented, imperative, declarative/logic, functional), and write small programs in each paradigm.
• Distinguish between syntactic issues and semantic issues in programming languages, use formal techniques (such as BNF) in the specification of language syntax and the construction of language parsers, and explain and modify code that assigns semantics to parse trees.
• Describe, and discuss the effects of, different forms of variable binding, scoping, and lifetime.
• Define type safety, static and dynamic typing, explicit and implicit type declarations and coercions, and function types; and describe their roles in program development

Course Information, 2013.fall

• Time/Place: MoWeFr 15:00–16:00, Davis 043.
• Instructor info Ian Barland, , Davis 230.
  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: You don't need an appointment to drop by during scheduled office hours. These hours are subject to change; see the class web page for the most up-to-date times.
  Davis 230
  

  Mo,We,Fr	09:00-10:30
  We,Fr	16:00-17:00
  Tu,Th	09:00-09:50 on-line
  Th	13:00-14:30
  or by appointment

  You are encouraged to post (and answer) questions on the D2L discussion board, since you might get another student's ideas within a few minutes, instead of my response perhaps a day or more later. If your question requires giving away part the answer (e.g. part of your solution), feel free to email me; please include “ITEC380” in the subject.

• Text

  Author:	Robert Sebesta
  Title:	Concepts of Programming Languages
  Publisher:	Addison Wesley
  Edition:	(see below)	8th ed	9th ed	10th ed
  ISBN:		978-0321493620	978-0136073475	978-0131395312
  Note:	You are welcome (even encouraged) to get a used copy the textbook for the fall; any edition 8th or later. (Each newer edition is slightly improved, mostly with more examples and self-exercises. The 10th edition does have a couple extra sections with good info, but it's not clear it's worth the price difference.)
  optional	How well do you know Java? The following has nearly 100 one-page puzzles, each illustrating how language design choices can have unintended consequences. Nice bedtime reading.
  Author:	Joshua Block and Neal Gafter
  Title:	Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases
  Publisher:	Addison Wesley
  ISBN:	978-0321336781

• Evaluation:

  Exams (2) & Quizzes (weekly-ish)	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.

  Final Exam: Dec.11 (Wed) 14:45, as per the final exam schedule.

• 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; some will be on-line short-answer and multiple choice about programming topics; others will be small programming projects. You will write programs in several paradigms: Functional programming (Racket/Scheme/Lisp), Declarative programming (Prolog), and scripting languages (javascript 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. (more info If you are seeking academic accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act at Radford University, you are required to register with the Disability Resource Office (DRO). To receive academic accommodations for this class, please submit your documentation to the DRO in the lower level of Tyler Hall Suites 54-69, by fax to 540-831-6525, or by email to dro@radford.edu. After submitting documentation to our office, you will set up an interview with a Disability Services Specialist to discuss accommodations. You will be notified via email once your accommodation package is complete and ready to be picked up. Once you have picked up your accommodation package, you will need to meet with each course professor during their office hours to review and discuss your package. For more information and/or for documentation guidelines, visit www.radford.edu/dro or call 540-831-6350. )

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©2013, Ian Barland, Radford University Last modified 2013.Oct.07 (Mon)

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