CAS CS 320 is a course about programming languages, particularly the design and implementation of programming languages. In this course, we take up the programming language as an object of formal study. This course is not about how to program, though the principles we cover are generally useful for writing and reasoning about programs.
The first part of the course is on functional programming in OCaml, based on CS 3110: Data Structures and Functional Programming at Cornell University and its associated textbook (referred to as OCP below). Its topics include algebraic data types, higher-order functions, and polymorphism. It's during this part that we learn to think functionally, to view programs not as sequences of commands manipulating global state, but as compositions of functions that deconstruct and reorient data.
In the second part of the course we implement several interpreters for various fragments of OCaml; that is, we write OCaml programs that execute OCaml programs. The topics covered include parsing, operational semantics, variable scope, type checking and type inference. By the end of the course, you'll be able to execute some of the simpler programs we wrote in the first part of the course using your own interpreter.
Date | Topic | Reading | Assignments |
|---|---|---|---|
9/2 | Course Overview | ||
9/3 | Lab 1: Installation Party | ||
9/4 | Basics I: Introducing OCaml | Assignment 1 | |
9/9 | Basics II: Desiging functions | ||
9/10 | Lab 2: OCaml Party | ||
9/11 | Basics III: Inference Rules | Assignment 2 (A1 due) | |
9/16 | Basics IV: Lists, Tail-Recursion | ||
9/17 | Lab 3: Recursion Classics | ||
9/18 | Basics V: Derivations | Assignment 3 (A2 due) | |
9/23 | Data I: Unions and Products | ||
9/24 | Lab 4: TSV Reader | ||
9/25 | Data II: Algebraic Data Types | Assignment 4 (A3 due) | |
9/30 | HOP I: Maps and Filters | ||
10/1 | Lab 5: S-Expressions | ||
10/2 | HOP II: Folds | Assignment 5 (A4 due) | |
10/7 | OCaml I: Error Handling, Testing | ||
10/8 | Lab 5: When2meet | ||
10/9 | OCaml II: Modules | Practice Midterm (A5 due) | |
10/14 | No Lecture (Substitute Monday) | ||
10/15 | Lab 7: Midterm Review | ||
10/16 | Midterm | Assignment 6 | |
10/21 | Parsing I: In Theory | ||
10/22 | Lab 6: Formal Grammar Worksheet | ||
10/23 | Parsing II: In Practice | Mini-Project 1 (A6 due) | |
10/28 | Semantics I: Operational Semantics | OCP 9.1 | |
10/29 | Lab 8: Parser Generators | ||
10/30 | Semantics II: Substitution | OCP 9.3 | MP1 Check-in due |
11/4 | Semantics III: Variables, Scope, Closures | OCP 9.4 | |
11/5 | Lab 9: Operational Semantics Worksheet | ||
11/6 | Semantics IV: Environments | OCP 9.4 | Mini-Project 2 (MP1 due) |
11/11 | Types I: Simple Types | OCP 9.5 | |
11/12 | Lab 10: An Imperative Language | ||
11/13 | Types II: Progress and Preservation | OCP 9.5 | MP2 Check-in due |
11/18 | Types III: Polymorphism | OCP 9.5 | |
11/19 | Lab 11: Closures Worksheet | ||
11/20 | Inference I: Hindley-Milner (Light) | OCP 9.6 | Mini-Project 3 (MP2 due) |
11/25 | Inference II: Unification | OCP 9.6 | |
11/26 | No Lab (Thanksgiving Recess) | ||
11/27 | No Lecture (Thanksgiving Recess) | ||
12/2 | Inference III: Constraint-Based Inference | OCP 9.6 | |
12/3 | Lab 12: Type Inference Worksheet | ||
12/4 | Inference IV: Extended Example | OCP 9.6 | MP3 Check-in due |
12/9 | Advanced: Byte-Code Interpretion | ||
12/10 | Lab 15: Final Exam Review | MP3 due | |
TBD | Final Exam |