COMP 524 - Programming Language Concepts

Jeremy Wang
Office: Sitterson 305
Email: jrwang@cs.unc.edu
Office Hours: MW 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM or by appointment

This course explores key concepts required for understanding programming languages, as well as a general overview of several classes of programming languages.

• Describe major programming paradigms such as imperative, functional, and logic programming and choose the appropriate type for a particular project.
• Demonstrate an understanding of different language paradigms and types by implementing simple programs in each.
• Describe binding, memory management, and control flow techniques for various languages.
• Identify the difference between compiling and interpretation and the pros and cons of each.
• Explain concepts of syntax and parsing.

This course satisfies the Programming Languages Group requirement for the computer science degree and provides a broad overview of programming languages. If you want an in-depth look at implementation issues, then COMP 520 (Compilers) is a more appropriate choice than this course. If you want significant experience working with a particular language, consider COMP 523 (Software Engineering Laboratory) and/or taking another language specific course.

The official prerequisite for this class is COMP 410 (Data Structures). In addition, several of the assignments will require a significant amount of programming. Proficiency in Java and comfort with coding will be assumed. If you do not have these prerequisites and want to take this course, please contact the instructor immediately.

Programming Language Pragmatics, 3rd ed. (Michael L. Scott)
ISBN 978-0-12-374514-9

The textbook can be viewed online from ON CAMPUS here.

Other reading material will be available on the course homepage.

Assignments: 40%
Quizzes: 10%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 30% (Friday, May 3rd 12:00 - 2:30)

All homework will be announced in class and posted on the course web page. No late submissions will be accepted without prior approval from the instructor. The lowest homework grade will be dropped when computing your final score.

Plagiarism and any other form of cheating will be reported to the Student Attorney General. Please familiarize yourself with the department's guide Honor Code Observation in Computer Science Courses. Specific guidelines will be given with each assignment.

Week 1: Introduction, Programming Languages
Week 2: Compilation and Interpretation, Lexical Analysis (part 1)
Weeks 3: Lexical Analysis (part 2)
Weeks 4-5: Syntax Analysis
Calculator Scanner/Parser Lab Slides
Week 6: Declarative Languages (Prolog)
Week 7: Binding and Storage, Scope
Week 8: Control Flow
Week 10: Data Types, Type Systems, Polymorphism
Week 11: Object Orientation
Week 12: Scripting Languages (Python)
Week 13: Functional Programming (Haskell)
Week 14: Runtime Systems
Week 15: Concurrency

Assignment 1: (due 1/23) Ex. 1.1 - 1.7 (p. 36-37)

Assignment 2: (due 2/11) Selected chapter 2 exercises (p. 102-105)
    2.1 a,b,c (you should use productions, perhaps many compound productions, rather than single-line regular expressions)
    2.2 a,b
    2.4
    2.9
    2.14 a,b,c
    One not exactly in the book (call it 2.xx): Draw a minimal DFA to detect integer and decimal numbers. Your graph should have two final states, one for integers and one for decimal numbers.

Assignment 3 (and Midterm review): HW3