CSE 505 Syllabus

Goals

• Understand the major concepts in programming languages
• Gain some experience using advanced features of modern programming languages
• Learn to use formal semantics as a tool for understanding and describing language semantics precisely
• Become aware of current open problems and active research areas in the design of modern programming languages
• Understand trade-offs in language design

History & some basic concepts (1 week max)

• Algol-60 and Simula
• Succinct discussion/review of some concepts common to many languages: scoping; types; static vs. dynamic typing; parameter passing

Constraint Programming (3 weeks)

• Issues addressed:
• declarative and relational programming; constraints; constraint satisfaction
• Languages studied:
• CLP(R), CHR, cc languages, HCLP
• Course work:
• two programming assignments and written homeworks

Functional Programming (2-3 weeks)

• Issues addressed:
• first-class functions; lexical scoping
• programming without side-effects
• polymorphic type systems; type inference; static vs. dynamic typing
• module systems
• lazy evaluation
• continuations
• Languages studied:
• Scheme
• Miranda
• Haskell
• Course work:
• small programming assignments and homework in each language

Object-Oriented Programming (2-3 weeks)

• Issues addressed:
• ADTs; inheritance; subclass polymorphism & dynamic binding
• static type systems; subclassing vs. subtyping
• polymorphic type systems
• other issues:
• single vs. multiple dispatching
• classes vs. prototypes
• Languages studied:
• Smalltalk
• Java and extensions (e.g. Pizza)
• Self, Cecil
• Kaleidoscope
• Course work:
• small programming assignments and homework in 2-3 languages

Formal Semantics (1 week)

• Issues addressed:
• operational semantics; natural semantics
• denotational semantics
• type deduction rules; soundness
• Languages studied:
• lambda calculus
• Course work:
• one simple homework assignment