Class Schedule

Course Summary

CS 4392 is an advanced undergraduate course on the principles underlying programming language design. We will study the foundations of different programming language paradigms from a design and implementation perspective. Starting from the basics of programming language syntax we will progress into formal programming language semantics and the various ways to define and implement them. The topics we will study include: functional programming, lambda calculus, logic programming, operational semantics, type systems, Floyd-Hoare logic, object-oriented programming, and program verification. Concepts will involve a mix of theory and application and will be reinforced through multiple programming assignments. The full syllabus can be found here

Course logistics including assignment submissions, grades, and online discussion of questions will be done through the course's canvas page.

Week	Date	Topic	Readings / Assignments
Week 1
1	Aug 24	Course introduction, Programming Language basics, and Syntax	Syllabus review
	Aug 26	Syntax: Context Free Grammars, Parsing
Week 2
2	Aug 31	Big Step Operational Semantics
	Sep 2	Operational and Denotational semantics
Week 3
3	Sep 7	Labor Day - NO CLASS	None
	Sep 9	Interpreters	Assignment 1 Released
Week 4
4	Sep 14	Interpreters, Part 2
	Sep 16	Abstract Interpretation
Week 5
5	Sep 21	Propositional Logic	Assignment 1 Due
	Sep 23	Exam 1 Review
Week 6
6	Sep 28	Midterm Exam 1
	Sep 30	Hoare Logic (Axiomatic Semantics)
Week 7
7	Oct 5	Fall Break - NO CLASS	None
	Oct 7	Hoare Logic, Part 2
Week 8
8	Oct 12	Lambda Calculus: Syntax and Semantics, Higher-order Functions
	Oct 14	Lambda Calculus: Alpha-Beta Reductions, Lazy Evaluation
Week 9
9	Oct 19	Lambda Calculus: Currying, Eager Evaluation
	Oct 21	Functional Programming in Scheme	Assignment 2 Released
Week 10
10	Oct 26	Simply Typed Lambda Calculus
	Oct 28	Type Systems and Type Checking
Week 11
11	Nov 2	Curry-Howard Correspondance	Assignment 2 Due
	Nov 4	Logic Programming	Assignment 3 Released
Week 12
12	Nov 9	Logic Programming
	Nov 11	Object Oriented Programming: Inheritance and Subtyping
Week 13
13	Nov 16	Object Oriented Programming: Polymorphism and Dynamic Typing
	Nov 18	Midterm Review	Assignment 3 Due
Week 14
14	Nov 23	Midterm 2
	Nov 25	Thanksgiving Break - NO CLASS
Week 15
15	Nov 30	Differentiable Programming
	Dec 2	Differentiable Programming
Week 16
16	Dec 7	Course Recap