COP4020 is an introduction to the design and implementation of programming languages. Programming languages are an essential means to express abstract computer programs. While programming languages may differ significantly in syntax and semantics, they share many common design concepts, translation mechanisms, and properties. This course reviews several common programming languages, defines programming language classes, introduces imperative and object-oriented programming language concepts, functional programming with Scheme, logic programming with Prolog, and presents theoretical and pragmatic aspects of programming language design and implementation.
For all students: Regular participation via the Blackboard course interface is required. Official course announcements, lecture materials, assignments, and help archives will all be on-line at this site. Note that all registered students should have the course web site listed on their My FSU portal page. Be sure to test this and resolve any difficulties no later than the first week of classes.
For on-campus students: Class (lecture and recitation) will be met and attendance is required. (See schedule details below.) All exams will be given in class during scheduled class time.
For on-line students: All exams must be proctored and taken during the exam window. It is the student's responsibility to arrange for proctored exams in compliance with the FSU standards. (See Course Policies for details.)
Note that students may be required to identify themselves with official FSU ID to sit an exam.
The following table shows the coursework components and how they contribute to your final grade:
Programming projects 30% Homework assignments 10% Midterm exam 30% Final exam 30%
To receive a passing grade (C- or better) for the overall course, you must earn a passing grade (C- or better) on the final exam and a passing grade on the projects (C- or better on average). In addition, you must submit a working version of every programming assignment in order to be eligible for the grade of A or A-.
Once these constraints have been satisfied, the course letter grade is determined using the following table:
94-100% A 87-89% B+ 77-79% C+ 67-69% D+ 0-59% F 90-93% A- 83-86% B 73-76% C 63-66% D 80-82% B- 70-72% C- 60-62% D-
Your grades for projects, homework, and exams will be accessible via FSU's Blackboard.
The midterm exam covers the first part of the course. The final exam the second part. The final exam is not comprehensive. The following table shows the dates of exams for on-campus students and exam windows for online students taking exams at proctored sites:
Exam Calendar Exam On-Campus Distance Window (Inclusive) Midterm Exam Tue Oct 14 Thu Oct 16 - Tue Oct 21 Final Exam Tue Dec 9 Thu Dec 4 - Tue Dec 9
Note that it is the student's responsibility to set up the exam proctoring schedule individually. (See Course Policies for details.)
Access to some past exams is given through the following table. These are provided as a service to help with exam preparation and review. Note that solutions to exam questions are not provided and that the instruction staff will not participate in discussions of these questions. However students are welcome to discuss them openly via Blackboard. Note however that posting solutions is not appropriate, since the value of old exams is primarily as a self-study tool.
There will be a number of programming projects. You are expected to work individually on these projects. Programming project assignments and due dates can be found on the course schedule.
Homework assignments consist of short-answer questions, essays, or problems. The purpose of these assignments is to prepare you for the exams. Homework assignments and due dates can be found on the course calendar.
For homework and projects, you must include your name and last four digits of your SSN on each submitted item (electronic or hardcopy). Note that copying program listings and homework from other persons violates the honor code and such abuse will not be tolerated. This includes dishonest practices such as programming-for-hire. Appropriate penalties will be enforced.
The project and homework assignments, when turned in before or at the due date before midnight will be graded. When turned in late, 10% will be deducted from the grade per day late until the homework has been received, with a maximum extension of five days.
You will need an account to log on to the Computer Science department machines. If you don’t have one, visit the system info site: CS System Info | New Student. You will need to check email on this account.
You will also need your Blackboard / FSU Email account (i.e., @fsu.edu) for logging in to the class communications web site and for receiving email originated from Blackboard. If you have not obtained this account, go to FSU Guide to Computing Resources | Getting Started. You will also need to check email on this account.
Most course communication is supported by the Blackboard course web site through Announcements, MyGrades, and the Discussion Board. In particular, students should use the Discussion Board for class communication, treating that as a "classroom". However there are circumstances when email will be used by instructors and students. Sometimes very important announcements may be emailed from Blackboard to your FSU account. And reports from your program assignments will be emailed to your CS account. Conversely, students may choose email to communicate with instructional personnel in cases where the subject matter is personal or otherwise inappropriate for public consumption on the Discussion Board.
It is therefore essential that you check email at both your CS account and your FSU account regularly - at least every weekday. Note that you can forward email from one or both of these accounts to a place where you commonly check email. See FSU Help Desk | Forwarding and CS Help Desk | Forwarding for details.
The tentative schedule with PPT lecture notes is shown below (refresh this page if necessary). You are encouraged to download and print the notes as study guides. Links will be active when new notes have been added. The schedule will be updated when needed and significant changes will be announced on Blackboard.
Project and homework assignments can be downloaded by selecting the link in the "Assignments" column. Assignment submission processes will be announced. Note that assignment due dates are in the last column.
Date Lecture notes Reading material Other useful resources Assignments Due Date1 8/26 Introduction Chapter 1 (1.1 to 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7)
The Semicolon WarsThe Language List Homework 1 Key 8/29 9/2 Functional Programming Chapter 10 (10.1 to 10.3, 10.5 and 10.7) Scheme Homework 2 Key
Program 1
Program 29/5
9/14
9/219/9 Compilers and Interpreters Chapter 1 (1.4 and 1.6) Parser demo Homework 3 Key 9/12 9/16 Syntax Chapter 2 (2.1 to 2.3.1, 2.5, and pages 77 to 80) - Homework 4 Key
Program 3
9/19
9/28
9/23 Semantics Chapter 4 (4.1 to 4.3, and 4.7) - Homework 5 Key
Program 4
9/26
10/59/30 Axiomatic Semantics Handout (up to page 408) - Program 5 Key 10/19 10/7 Review - - - 10/14 Midterm Exam - - - Schedule 10/21 Names, Scopes, and Bindings Chapter 3 - Homework 6 Key
10/24
10/28 Control Flow Chapter 6 (6.1 to 6.6.1, and 6.8) - - - 11/4 Subroutines and Parameter Passing Chapter 8 (8.1, 8.2.4, 8.3, 8.4, 8.7) - Homework 7 Key
Program 611/7
11/1611/11 Exception Handling
11/11 is Veteran's Day. There is no class scheduled.Chapter 8 (8.5)
Handouts- Program 7 11/23 11/18 Logic Programming Chapter 11 (11.1 to 11.2, 11.4 and 11.5) - Homework 8
Program 8 Hint12/07
11/3011/25 Review - Program 5 Solution Program 9
12/10 12/2 Review - - - - 12/9 Final Exam - - - Schedule 1 In general, homework is due on Friday and program is due on Sunday
For information on university events, see the FSU academic calendar and the final exam schedule.
Course Policies
First Day Attendance Policy: Official university policy is that any student not attending the first class meeting will be automatically dropped from the class. For distance students, this policy is interpreted as posting to the discussion forum "First Day Attendance" no later than the first day of the semester.
Regular Attendance Policy: The university requires attendance in all classes. Attendance in distance classes shall mean regular access to the course web site via campus.fsu.edu and regular participation in the class discussion forums. Here, "regular" shall mean a substantial amount of time on a weekly basis. Note that individual access statistics are maintained by Blackboard.
Proctored Exam Policy: All exams must be proctored and taken at an approved testing site during the exam window or in class on the designated date. It is the student's responsibility to arrange for proctored exams in compliance with the FSU standards. Go to http://learningforlife.fsu.edu/cat/test/distancelearning/students.cfm for complete information on setting up a proctored exam site.
Exam Makeup Policy: An exam missed without an acceptable excuse will be recorded as a grade of zero (0). The following are the only acceptable excuses:
- If submitted prior to the day of the scheduled exam:
- A written and signed explanation as to why the exam will missed. Illness or required professional travel are acceptable, while discretionary or personal travel are not. In any case the explanation should be accompanied by corroborating documentation, including names and contact information, and the explanation must be accepted by the instructor prior to missing the exam.
- Evidence from a university official that you will miss the exam due to university sanctioned travel or extracurricular activity.
- If submitted on or after the day of the scheduled exam:
- A note from a physician, university dean, spouse, parent, or yourself indicating an illness or other extraordinary circumstance that prevented you from taking the exam and could not be planned for in advance. Again, corroborating information should be supplied.
All excuses must be submitted in writing, must be signed by the excusing authority, and must include complete contact information for the authority, including telephone numbers and address.
Missed exams with acceptable excuse will be made up or assigned the average grade of all other exams, at the option of the course instructor.
Missed, and acceptably excused, final exams will result in the course grade of 'I' and must be made up in the first two weeks of the following semester.
Grade of 'I' Policy: The grade of 'I' will be assigned only under the following exceptional circumstances:
- The final exam is missed with an accepted excuse for the absence. In this case, the final exam must be made up during the first two weeks of the following semester.
- Due to an extended illness or other extraordinary circumstance, with appropriate documentation, the student is unable to participate in class for an extended period. In this case, arrangements must be made to make up the missed portion of the course prior to the end of the next semester.
Completion of Work Policy: To be eligible for the grade of A or A-, working versions of all programming assignments must be submitted.
Academic Honor Policy
The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process. Students are responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their pledge to “. . . be honest and truthful and . . . [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at Florida State University.” (Florida State University Academic Honor Policy, found at http://dof.fsu.edu/honorpolicy.htm.)
All students are expected to uphold the Academic Honor Policy. Please note the following items are defined and made violations by the policy:
- Plagiarism
- Cheating
- Unauthorized Group Work
- Fabrication, Falsification, and Misrepresentation
- Multiple Submission
- Abuse of Academic Materials
- Complicity in Academic Dishonesty
- Attempted ...
Violations of the academic honor policy may result in failing grades and/or dismissal from the university. All students are expected to read and understand the policy.
Turnitin.com: FSU subscribes to Turnitin.com, a database of papers that have been previously published or turned in for credit in university courses worldwide. Student work may be checked in the Turnitin database for originality. Note that turning in work that contains uncited quoted material from any source is considered plagiarism and a violation of the FSU honor code.
Americans with Disability Act
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:
(1) register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center; and
(2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type. This should be done during the first week of class.This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request.
For more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the:
Student Disability Resource Center
97 Woodward Avenue, South
108 Student Services Building
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
(850) 644-9566 (voice)
(850) 644-8504 (TDD)
sdrc@admin.fsu.edu
http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/(This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request.)
Emergency Management Information
Information regarding the status of FSU in an emergency situation may be obtained from the following sources:
- For information specific to the Panama City Campus go to the FSUPC web page at http://www.pc.fsu.edu/ or call the Campus Hotline number 850-770-2000
- For information related to FSU in general and the Tallahassee Campus go to the FSU alerts web page at http://www.fsu.edu/~alerts/
- For state-wide and national information, go to the Florida Division of Emergency Management information pages at http://www.floridadisaster.org/
Any specific information related to this class will be posted on the course web site or sent via email to your fsu email address.
Syllabus Change Policy
This syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advanced notice. Such notice will be in the form of an announcement to the course web site on My FSU.
This syllabus is based on the original course design and syllabus by Robert van Engelen of Florida State University, 2006. The course and syllabus have been modified by R.C. Lacher for Fall 2008.