Title: CS 6371: Advanced Programming Languages
Course Registration Number: 22958
Times: TR 1:00–2:15
Location: CB 1.218
Instructor: Dr. Kevin Hamlen (hamlen AT utdallas)
Instructor's Office Hours: TR 2:15–3:15 in ECSS 3.704
This course will cover functional and logic programming, concepts of programming language design, and formal reasoning about programs and programming languages. The following are the course learning objectives:
Through taking this course, students will learn the tradeoffs of imperative vs. non-imperative programming languages, issues involved in designing a programming language, the role of formal semantics and type-systems in reasoning about programs and languages, and proof techniques related to formal, high-assurance software validation.
The course is open to Ph.D. students and Masters students. Interested undergraduates should see the instructor for permission to take the course.
Prerequisites: Discrete Structures (CS 3305/5333 or equivalent), Algorithm Analysis and Data Structures (CS 3345/5343 or equivalent), Automata Theory (CS 4384/5349 or equivalent). A solid background in all three of these areas will be heavily assumed throughout the course!
STUDENTS MUST ATTEND AT LEAST ONE OF THE FIRST THREE CLASSES. IF YOU MISS MORE THAN TWO OF THE FIRST THREE CLASSES (other than for excused absences—see below) THEN YOUR FINAL COURSE GRADE WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE REDUCED BY ONE FULL LETTER GRADE. The first three classes will cover logic programming in the Prolog programming language, which will introduce many concepts assumed throughout the rest of the course. Documented absences approved by university policy are exempted from this attendance requirement. These include illness with an accompanying doctor's note, and observance of religious holy days.
To better understand the in-class Prolog lectures at the start of the course, you should either install your own local version of SWI Prolog (preferred), or you can access the version installed on the UTD linux servers as follows:
To better understand the in-class OCaml demos starting in the second week of the course, you should do the following as preparation:
If you can't get OCaml to work on your personal machine, you can use OCaml on the UTD CS Department Linux servers. To do so:
Homework (25%): Homeworks will be assigned approximately once per 1.5 weeks, and will consist of a mix of programming assignments and written assignments. Programming assignments will be implemented in Prolog or OCaml. Written assignments will typically involve discrete math proofs. Homeworks must be turned in at the start of class (i.e., by 1:05pm) on the due date. To help students prepare for the next assignment, homework solutions will typically be revealed on each due date. Therefore, no late homeworks will be accepted.
Quizzes (15%): On indicated assignment due dates (see the course schedule below), students will solve one or two problems individually at the start of class as a quiz. The quiz problems are essentially extra homework problems solved individually in class without the help of the internet or collaboration with other students. The quizzes will be closed-book and closed-notes.
Midterm (25%): There will be an in-class midterm exam in class on Thursday, March 2nd. The exam will cover functional programming, operational semantics, denotational semantics, and fixpoints.
Final (35%): A final exam for the course has been tentatively scheduled by the university registrar for Thursday, May 3rd at 2:00pm. The exam will be cumulative, covering all material in the course. Students will have 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete it.
Students may work individually or together with other students presently enrolled in the class to complete the assignments, but they must CITE ALL COLLABORATORS AND ANY OTHER SOURCES OF MATERIAL that they consulted, even if those sources weren't copied word-for-word. Copying or paraphrasing someone else's work without citing it is plagiarism, and may result in severe penalties such as an immediate failing grade for the course and/or expulsion from the computer science program. Therefore, please cite all sources!
Students may NOT consult solution sets from previous semesters of this course, or collaborate with students who have such solutions. These sources are off-limits because such "collaborations" tend to involve simply copying or reverse-engineering someone else's answer to a similar homework problem, which does not prepare you for the quizzes and exams.
The course has no required textbook, but we will make use of several online references:
Date | Topic | Assignments | |
Logic Programming | |||
Lecture 1: Tue 1/9 |
Logic Programming: Part I | Assignment 1 due 1/25 (Prolog) |
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Lecture 2: Thu 1/11 |
Logic Programming: Part II | ||
Lecture 3: Tue 1/16 |
Logic Programming: Part III | ||
Functional Programming | |||
Lecture 4: Thu 1/18 |
Course Introduction: Functional vs. Imperative programming, type-safe languages, intro to OCaml Lecture Notes |
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Lecture 5: Tue 1/23 |
OCaml: Parametric polymorphism Lecture Notes |
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Lecture 6: Thu 1/25 |
OCaml: List folding, tail recursion, exception-handling Lecture Notes |
Assignment 2 due 2/6 (OCaml Intro) |
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No Lecture: Tue 1/30 |
Quiz #1: Logic Programming | ||
Operational Semantics | |||
Lecture 7: Thu 2/1 |
Large-step Semantics: Intro See Assignment 3 for lecture notes. |
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Lecture 8: Tue 2/6 |
Large-step Semantics: Proof techniques Lecture Notes |
Assignment 3 due 2/13 (SIMPL Interpreter) |
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Lecture 9: Thu 2/8 |
Small-step Semantics Lecture Notes | ||
Denotational Semantics | |||
Lecture 10: Tue 2/13 |
Denotational Semantics: Semantic domains and valuation functions Lecture Notes Quiz #2: Functional Programming |
Assignment 4 due 2/22 (Operational Semantics) |
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Lecture 11: Thu 2/15 |
Denotational Semantics: Fixed points Lecture Notes |
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Lecture 12: Tue 2/20 |
Fixed-point Induction Lecture Notes Supplemental Examples |
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Lecture 13: Thu 2/22 |
Semantic Equivalence Quiz #3: Operational Semantics |
Assignment 5 due 3/8 (Fixpoints) |
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Lecture 14: Tue 2/27 |
Midterm Review Sample Midterm Exam (w/solutions) |
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Midterm: Thu 3/1 |
Midterm Exam | ||
Type Theory | |||
Lecture 15: Tue 3/6 |
Type Theory: Introduction | ||
Lecture 16: Thu 3/8 |
Type Theory: Type-soundness, Progress and Preservation Lecture Notes Quiz #4: Denotational Semantics |
Assignment 6 due 3/22 (SIMPL Type-checker) |
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No Class: Tue 3/13 |
No Class: Spring break | ||
No Class: Thu 3/15 |
No Class: Spring break | ||
Lecture 17: Tue 3/20 |
Program-proof Co-development | ||
Untyped Lambda Calculus | |||
Lecture 18: Thu 3/22 |
Untyped Lambda Calculus: Introduction Quiz #5: Type Theory |
Assignment 7 due 4/3 (Lambda calculus) |
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Lecture 19: Tue 3/27 |
Untyped Lambda Calculus: Encodings and reductions | ||
Typed Lambda Calculus | |||
Lecture 20: Thu 3/29 |
Simply-typed Lambda Calculus Lecture Notes |
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Lecture 21: Tue 4/3 |
System F: Type-inhabitation, Curry-Howard Isomorphism Lecture Notes Quiz #6: Lambda Calculus |
Assignment 8 due 4/17 (Functional SIMPL) |
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Lecture 22: Thu 4/5 |
Summary/Comparison of Modern Language Features: Static vs. dynamic typing, type-safety, function evaluation strategies | ||
Lecture 23: Tue 4/10 |
Summary/Comparison of Modern Language Features: Hindley-Milner type-inference, type polymorphism Lecture Notes |
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Formal Verification | |||
Lecture 24: Thu 4/12 |
Axiomatic Semantics: Hoare Logic
|
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Lecture 25: Tue 4/17 |
Axiomatic Semantics: Loop invariants, Soundness, Relative Completeness Lecture Notes |
Assignment 9 due 4/26 (Hoare Logic) |
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Lecture 26: Thu 4/19 |
Axiomatic Semantics: Weakest precondition, strongest postcondition | ||
Lecture 27: Tue 4/24 |
Final Review Sample Final Exam w/Solutions |
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Lecture 28: Thu 4/26 |
Final Review Quiz #7: Axiomatic Semantics |
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Final Exam: Thu 5/3 2:00–4:45pm |
Final Exam (in usual classroom) |