Course F21SC: System Programming and Scripting

This page collects material on my course on System Programming and Scripting.

As a starting point for this course, this is a very good article, published in IEEE Computer, summarising the characteristics of scripting languages compared to general purpose programming languages.

Purpose and Learning Objectives

The purpose of the Course F21SC System Programming and Scripting is to deepen the understanding of a range of programming languages and to obtain a critical understanding of the outstanding features of each of the languages. In doing so, it provides advanced programming language skills, exercised through a series of courseworks. In particular, this course conveys the idea of scripting languages acting as glueware between components of existing software systems in order to build large systems.

Learning Objectives:

Appreciation of role of different programming paradigms in configuring/managing systems:
- Object-oriented: good at structuring large code
- Imperative: good at performance
- Functional: good at abstraction
- Logic: good at reasoning
Autonomous problem analysis/solution:
- Really understand the problem to pick the right paradigm/approach for producing a solution
- Understanding of core characteristics of contemporary operating systems: make good use of available resources
Appreciation of role of language as glue wear in configuring/maintaining systems:
- Scripting languages combine existing code
- Knowledge of key abstractions across programming languages:
- Write reusable and maintainable code
Technical proficiency in advanced techniques in different programming paradigms:
- Learn the Best of all Worlds

Pre-requisites:

Solid knowledge of an object-oriented language, eg. Java.
General software engineering skills in working with complex systems

Course Structure

Lecture 1: Course Outline
Lecture 2: Characteristics of Systems and Scripting Languages
Lecture 3: Introduction to the .Net framework: Visual Studio .Net, the basics of a C# program.
Lecture 4: C# Fundamentals: predefined type, expressions, data structures, decision and iteration
Lecture 5&6: C# Objects: Class definition, methods constructors, inheritance.
Lecture 7: C# GUI Programming
Lecture 8: C# Data Structures
Lecture 9: C# Advanced Features
Lecture 10: C# Systems Programming
Lecture 11: C# File and Stream Programming
Lecture 12: C# Revision
Lecture 13: C# Programming with threads
Lecture 14: C# Distributed object model concepts
Lecture 15: C# Reading on Using C# Remoting
Lecture 16: Bash: Introduction to scripting, regular expressions
Lecture 17: Bash: Shell scripting basics: writing a simple script, variables, arithmetic, basic commands, pipes, filters
Lecture 18: Bash: Control structures, functions in shell scripting
Lecture 19: Bash: Advanced Shell scripting
Lecture 20: PHP introduction: embedding with HTML, variables and data structures
Lecture 21: PHP types
Lecture 22: PHP control structures, functions, objects
Lecture 23: PHP strings, arrays and regular expressions
Lecture 24: PHP forms, PHP session tracking
Lecture 25: PHP file and database access
Lecture 26: PHP email, PHP XML parsing

Lecture 27-29: Revision

Assessment:

Assessed Coursework: 100%
Demonstration of the coursework
There is no exam for this module.

Learning Material

Slides for the lectures up to now:

Week 1: Overview
Week 2: .Net and C# Introduction, C# Fundamentals
Week 3: C# Objects & Classes, C# GUI development
Week 4: C# Data Manipulation, Database access in C# and LINQ
Week 5: Advanced C# Features, C# Systems Programming
Week 6: Threading in C#, C# Revision
Week 7: Parallel Programming in C#
Week 8: Bash: Regular Expressions, Bash: Shell Scripting Basics, Bash: Shell Scripting: Control Structures
Week 9: PHP Introduction, PHP Types, PHP Regular Expressions
Week 10: PHP Control Expressions
Week 11: Database Support, XML File Support
Week 12: Revision

Future weeks:

Sample Sources are available from Vision and in a separate folder

Coursework

Each coursework requires an implementation of a simple application (either in C# or PHP). Additionally, you must summarise the application in a report, following the structure specified in the assignment. Submit report, sources and a stand-alone application (C#) or a link to the on-line application (PHP), all electronically. Additionally, post the report, with suitable cover sheet, as a hard copy to the drop boxes in front of the School Office.

Coursework 1: Deadline: 3:30pm Mon 17.10.2011 (handed out 3.10.2011)
Coursework 2: Deadline: 3:30pm Fri 4.11.2011 (handed out 17.10.2011)
Coursework 3: Deadline: 3:30pm Fri 2.12.2011 (handed out 14.11.2011)

Demos for CW2: Tue 15.11.2011, Rm G48

Time	Presenter
11:15	Faeq, Zhenar
11:30	Druckmiller, To Lan
11:45	Amiri, Mansoor
12:00	Magalhaes, Jose
12:15	Moschos, Theodoros

13:30
13:45	Godayer, Victor
14:00	KARAPETSAS, ALEXIOS
14:15	Naji, Haider
14:30	Constantinides, Christos
14:45	Jouwanah, Ammar

16:00	Furland Nygaard, Geir
16:15	Kale, Mike
16:30	Werfally, Abdelsalam
16:45

Demos for CW3: Thu 15.12.2011, Rm G48

Time	Presenter
11:20	Werfally, Abdelsalam
11:40	Jouwanah, Ammar
12:00	Druckmiller, To Lan N
12:30	Naji, Haider A

14:00	Faeq, Zhenar S
14:30	Amiri, Mansoor A
15:00	Karapetsas, Alexios
16:00	Constantinides, Christos
16:30	Godayer, Victor
17:00	Kale, Mike U
17:30	Furland Nygaard, Geir

Demos for CW3: Mon 19.12.2011, Rm G48

Time	Presenter
11:00
17:00

Reading List

Douglas Bell, Mike Parr, C# for Students, Addison Wesley, 2004.
Jesse Liberty, Brian MacDonald, Learning C# 3.0, O'Reilly, 2009.
Kurt Normark, Object-oriented Programming in C# for C and Java Programmers, 2010. On-line version
Eric Gunnerson, A programmer’s Introduction to C# 2, APRESS, 2005.
Tom Archer, Inside C#, Microsoft, 2001.
Andrew Birrell, An Introduction to programming with C# Threads, Microsoft, 2005.
Arnold Robbins, Classic Shell Scripting: Hidden Commands that Unlock the Power of Unix, O'Reilly, 2005.
Luke Welling and Laura Thomson, PHP and MySQL Web Development, Sams Publishing, 2005.
Rasmus Lerdorf, Programming PHP, O'Reilly, 2006.