ICS 313 -- Programming Language Theory

Homepage/Syllabus -- Spring 2012

Quick Links: Messages , Weekly Schedule (pdf) Lecture Notes & Links, Assignments, Exams and Grading, Emacs and Unix, Lisp, Prolog, Scripting/Perl.

Lectures/Instructor/TA/Texts

Lectures: M & W, 1:30-2:45p, Hamilton Library 03F (lower level) Room use rules (pdf)
Instructor: Prof. Nancy Reed, office: 314E POST, email: nreed@hawaii.edu , office phone: 956-8498
Office Hours: M & W 12-1 pm POST 314E or by appointment.
Course email/assignments account: ics313@hawaii.edu
Teaching Assistant: Zach Tomaszewski, 314-2 cubicle. TA office hours: Monday: 3:00-4:00pm, Thursday: 1:30-2:45pm, and Friday: Noon-1:00pm or by appointment. Also see the class account
Email: ics313@hawaii.edu, or ztomasze@hawaii.edu.

Required Textbooks:
Programming Language Pragmatics, Third Edition Michael L. Scott, Morgan Kaufmann Pub., April, 2009 (paperback) ISBN-10: 0123745144, ISBN-13: 978-0123745149.
Land of Lisp, Learn to Program in Lisp, One Game at a Time! by Conrad Barski, M.D. No Starch Press. October 2010, 504 pp. (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-59327-281-4. Electronic version available.
Optional Reference Material: Unix and Perl -- Just Enough Unix, ANY Edition Paul K. Andersen McGraw Hill Strongly recommended unless you already have a great deal of experience with Unix, Emacs and Perl. Lisp -- Practical Common Lisp, Peter Seibel, Apress, 2005, ISBN: 1590592395, ANSI Common Lisp, Paul Graham, Prentice Hall, 1995, ISBN: 0-133708756, Common Lisp, A gentle introduction to symbolic computation , Touretzky [out of print, link to online copy here ] (or another common lisp textbook). Prolog -- Programming in Prolog, 4th edition, Clocksin & Mellish, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-58350-5. (Or another prolog textbook.) (Equivalent sources such as other textbooks, library books, etc. may be used with prior instructor approval.)

Prerequisites

Prerequisites inclulde a C or better in both ICS 212 - Program Structure and ICS 241 - Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science II.

Overview and Learning Objectives

ICS 313, Programming Language Theory, covers the syntax, control structures, data binding and scope of programming languages. It also introduces alternative language styles, including functional languages like Lisp, logic programming languages like Prolog, and scripting languages like Perl. Students will write programs in LISP, Prolog, and Perl during the course.

Before the end of the course, all students should:

Understand the differences among programming languages and paradigms as well as how these differences impact the development and maintenance of programs, including development ease (time and effort), program correctness (including errors), code maintenance (understandability and extensibility), code execution (speed and image size), and code portability (hardware and compilers/interpreters).
Have the ability to program in several different programming paradigms/styles, including functional and logic languages like Lisp or Scheme and Prolog. Understand the uses for scripting languages such as Pearl or JavaScript.
Have the ability to represent and solve problems at an abstract level before coding them in a particular language.
Have the ability to quickly understand new programming language features, and assess each language's capabilities compared to existing languages.
Be able to choose the best programming language(s) for a project and justify the choice(s) with well-reasoned arguments based on language differences and the development environment such as the expertise of the programmer(s), programming support, and workplace politics.

Course Requirements

There are four components to your grade in this course - assignments, a project, quizzes, and exams.
Completion of several (7-9) written and/or programming assignments will comprise 20% of your grade. Completion of a project (in a group or alone) will count 10% toward your grade. Note that programs must execute and meet the assignment specifications to earn full credit. Good code-writing style, comments and documentation are also required. A reasonable attempt at ALL assignments and the project must be submitted to pass the course. I.e. failure to submit any assignment before solutions are posted, is an automatic fail.
There will be quizzes on most Wednesdays, which will comprise 20% of your grade.
There will be one written midterm examination covering the lectures, material in the textbook and additional readings that will comprise 20% of your grade. There will be one final examination, comprising 30% of your grade.

Topics Covered

The Unix and Emacs software development environment and tools
Introduction to programming language concepts
Syntax, semantics and history of programming languages
Names, scopes, and bindings
Control structures and control abstraction
Data types and data abstraction
Functional Programming and Lisp and/or Scheme
Logic Programming and Prolog
Scripting Languages, Perl

A more detailed, weekly schedule can be found here.

KOKUA Program

If you feel you need accommodations due to special circumstances, please 1) contact the KOKUA Program (V/T) at 956-7511 or 956-7612 in room 013 of the QLCSS, or 2) speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will be happy to work with you and the KOKUA Program to provide the support you need to succeed in this course.

Academic Conduct

Exams and quizzes must be done individually. Assignments are to be done individually unless explicitly stated otherwise for a specific assignment. Discussing approaches to programming assignments with classmates is fine. Copying answers, sharing code, submitting solutions from the Internet, other courses or previous terms as your own work are not permitted.
If you use ideas from any source to complete your assignments, including a textbook, you must cite (the name of) the source in your assignment/program files. For example, if you use a book, note the title & page #s. For a web page enter the URL and date accessed. Journal papers, conference proceedings, and other sources must be completely identified. If you use exact text, it must also be properly quoted.

It is each student's responsibility to prevent others from seeing/copying their work, and to report incidents of suspected cheating at UH. You should know how to protect your computer files from being accessed by others, and so on. Cheaters will be reported and risk expulsion from the university. Refer to the ( http://www.studentaffairs.manoa.hawaii.edu/policies/conduct_code/ ) for details. Cheating and plagiarism are not allowed.
Cheating is bad idea. Employers test your knowledge and skills and they know how to distinguish between applicants that know the material and those that do not. What you learn and take away from your college courses are your most valuable assets in finding and succeeding in your career.

I hope you learn a lot and enjoy this course. Go back to the Top of this page