Organization of Programming Languages, Spring 2005

Organization of Programming Languages

Spring 2005

Announcements

Try out the class discussion board using the "Discusion Board" link in the side-bar.

You will need an account on the linux machines at cs.uml.edu in order to submit your homework. If you do not have such an account, sign up for one now.

Goal

We will study programming languages using Scheme. You will learn about salient semantic features of various programming language paradigms including the imperative, functional, logical, and object-oriented approaches. Key concepts include: building abstractions, computational processes, higher-order procedures, compound data, data abstractions, controlling interactions, generic operations, self-describing data, inheritance and message passing, streams and infinite data structures, meta-linguistic abstraction, and interpretation of programming languages.

Books

The textbook is Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Harold Abelson, Gerald J. Sussman and Julie Sussman. The book is available in the bookstore. The book is colloquially known as "SICP" or, less commonly, as "the wizard book". The book can be found online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/. Errata can be found at http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/errata.html.

Class (section 201)

Lecture: Tue,Thu 10:00-11:15 in Olsen 414.
Instructor: Prof. Allyn Dimock
Office Hours: Tue 3-4, Fri 11-1 in Olsen 215

Grading

Homework 30%
First Quiz 20% (In class, 3/10)
Second Quiz 20% (In class, 4/21)
Final Exam 30% 5/17 at 3:00 in Olsen 407
Lateness policy: Homework should be submitted electronically before the class in which it is due. You should also submit a paper copy of the homework in the first 5 minutes of the class meeting. Assignments other than those that are due one class before a quiz may be turned in until the beginning of the following class meeting but will receive only 50% of the credit that they would have received had they been on time. Assignments due before a quiz may not be turned in late.

If you have an emergency situation that might keep you from completing an assignment on time, please notify the instructor as soon as possible.
Collboration policy: You must do the homework assignments individually. You may discuss the questions with your classmates away from a computer, but you must sit at a computer and program by yourself. To learn, you'll need to actually program in Scheme, not watch (or listen) another person do it.

When discussing a problem, please use the discussion board: That way any classmate or member of the course staff can help.

Any material that is not your original work must be credited to the original author.
Please read the University's Policy on Academic Integrity at http://www.uml.edu/admin/registrar/academicrules/academicdishonestycheatingandplagiarism.htm.