Course Syllabus

Essentials

Course Objectives

This course examines the fundamental principles at work in the most important contemporary languages, highlights the critical relationship between language design and language implementation, and devotes special attention to issues of importance to the expert programmer. Students should emerge better prepared to choose the best language for particular projects, to make more effective use of languages they already know, and to learn new languages quickly and completely.

CS 360 should provide you with knowledge about the following:

• what's "under the hood" of your favorite programming language,
• i.e., the basic concepts underlying programming languages
• learning about programming languages you do not already know the
• differences between the features of different languages and the
• reasons for the differences between those languages how to
• choose the most appropriate language for any given task
• the
• implications of language design features on implementation of
• the language, and the interaction between language design and
• implementation

Topics In this course, we will discuss the following basic concepts that underlie all programming languages:

• Programming Language Specification: Syntax and Semantics
• Overview of compilers, interpreters, programming environments, and tools
• Naming, Scoping, and Binding
• Type systems, data structures, data abstraction, and storage management
• Control Flow, subroutines, exception handling, and concurrency
• Imperative, functional, logic-based, and object-oriented programming paradigms

Required Text:

Programming Languages Principles and Practice, Kenneth C. Louden, Thomson, 2003.

Course Grading Scheme

• (20%) Homeworks (4 at 5% each)
• (35%) Course project
• (5%) Attendance, preparation, participation, and attitude. Unexcused absences and tardiness will detract from your final grade. Active participation in classroom activities is expected.
• (20%) Midterms (10% each)
• (20%) Final Examination

Late Policy

In general, late work is not accepted. However, each student has 2 days of non-penalized "self-granted extensions" to handle unforeseen emergencies. Some of the later assignments have firm deadlines and will not be accepted late. Read the late policy for more details.

Examinations

The midterm and final examinations are both closed book. Students will be tested only on material covered in the class prior to the test date. Hence, the final examination will be on the entire material of the course.

In order to prepare for the examinations, students should study the appropriate material from the textbook and lecture notes. The examination questions will be a mixture of short answer questions (e.g., definitions, small problems, etc.) and essay questions.

Academic Honesty

The university's Academic Honesty policy is in effect for this course. Please read pages 39-40: "Academic Honesty" in the Drexel University Student Handbook to make sure you are familiar with this policy.