Programming Languages (2013/14) (F28PL)

Course overview

Welcome to the Programming Languages (2013/14) webpage. In a nutshell, this course says:

“How should we program? Well, it matters what programs we have in mind. Let’s think this through …”

For historical reference.
See this year’s course.

I co-lectured this course with my colleage Greg Michaelson.

Course resources

- Lecture slides are below.
- Example SML programs exist for your pleasure and edification.
- The standard SML basis library is useful if you want to explore what built-in functions are available.
- Further course materials are on Greg’s pages.
- I quite like Bill Wilson’s Prolog dictionary.
- The Prolog tutorial by Paul Brna and Tamsin Treasure-Jones dates back to 1996 and is still great.
- Lydia Sinapova’s Prolog Class Notes.

rlwrap

rlwrap is a very practical and useful little program:

Lectures

Lecture of Wednesday 30 October at 12:15
Watch it and/or read the slides (lecture 11). See also the associated SML programs.
I used the word “tuple” during the lecture; somebody asked me What is a tuple?.
Lecture of Wednesday 6 November at 12:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lectures 11. See also the associated SML programs.
The question arose What is the size of an integer in SML?.
Lecture of Thursday 7 November at 10:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lectures 11 and 12.
Lab of Thursday 7 November at 13:15
Read the slides for lab 7.
Lecture of Thursday 7 November at 15:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 12.
Lecture of Wednesday 13 November at 12:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 12.
Lecture of Thursday 14 November at 10:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lectures 12 and 13.
Lecture of Thursday 14 November at 15:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lectures 13 and 14.
Lecture of Wednesday 20 November at 12:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lectures 14 and 15.
Lecture of Thursday 21 November at 10:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 16. See also the associated Prolog program.
Lecture of Thursday 21 November at 15:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 17. See also the associated Prolog program.
Lecture of Thursday 28 November at 10:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 18. See also the associated Prolog program.
Lecture of Thursday 28 November at 15:15
Watch it and/or read the slides for lecture 19. See also the associated Prolog program.
Revision lecture of 12 December at 15:15
Watch it. See also the associated sample paper (next paragraph).

The exam

For my half of the course I will set one question on SML and one question on Prolog.

These 50 Chuck Norris facts were examinable, as were all 93 of these rules of cycling (my personal favourites: rules 9, 12, and 14).

Full list of lecture slides

… for my half of the course. See Greg’s pages for the rest.

l11.pdf l12.pdf l13.pdf l14.pdf l15.pdf l16.pdf l17.pdf l18.pdf l19.pdf l20.pdf

Class times

- Wednesdays at 12:15 in EM1.82.
- Thursdays at 10:15 in EM1.83.
- Thursdays at 15:15 in ECG.01.
- There is a lab Thursdays at 13:15 in EM2.50.

You have to turn up to this stuff. You also have to make sure you understand the lecture materials while the course is going on. A student who thinks “I don’t understand this now, but I’ll sort it out during the holidays” is a student in denial (look at 1m03s).

Here are some book recommendations, just for fun:

- Tyler Hamilton’s The secret race. An insider’s account of the gob-smacking doping-related shenanigans got up to by some professional racing teams.
- Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. A book unlike any other I have read, and again important for quotes and references, such as the expression “Catch 22”.

Or then again, you could just watch Youtube, and then watch more Youtube, then read this, then watch this brilliant clip on Vimeo.

A little bit about me

I am a researcher in theoretical computer science. My research is mostly in formal logic.
Everybody calls me Jamie but my name is actually Murdoch. You can contact me by e-mail on “gabbay at macs hw ac don’ttypethis uk”. My office is G.50 Earl Mountbatten Building.

The students

Ah, well. I’m glad you asked. You’re second year undergraduate students. Let me know if this is not the case; I’d be interested to know!