Computer language concepts [ LINGI1131 ]

iCampus: > https://www.icampus.ucl.ac.be/claroline/course/index.php?cid=INGI1131

Good programming skills in a high-level language, for example given by the courses SINF1121 or FSAB1402.

• Concepts, techniques and paradigms of programming languages
• Concurrent programming paradigms
• Reasoning and design techniques for programming
• Practical Programming and Applications

Students completing successfully this course will be able to

• define with precision and use appropriately in medium-size programs the key programming concepts;
• define with precision the principal programming paradigms, with concepts they contain and the properties they give to programs
• explain how languages work in the programming paradigms, the relations between paradigms;
• learn quickly new languages;
• design new languages targeted toward an arbitrary application;
• interface different languages;
• define the main paradigms of concurrent programming (shared state, message passing and declarative concurrency), with concepts they contain and the properties they give to programs;
• write medium-sized programs in these paradigms of concurrent programming.

Students will have developed skills and operational methodology. In particular, they have developed their ability to

• think with abstractions (reason correctly about a system that consists of several layers of abstractions, and define new abstractions to simplify a problem's solution).

• Mid-term test (dispensatory for 1 / 4 of the mark).
• Project (1 / 4 of the mark).
• Written exam in session (3 / 4 of the mark).

• Lecture each week.
• Practical sessions in the computer rooms each week.
• Design and programming project (second half of the course).

• Deep understanding of key concepts of programming languages. The concepts are presented in a uniform framework. The course is organized around a progressive and coherent presentation of the various paradigms of concurrent programming.
• Major programming concepts including function, object, class, abstraction, instantiation, inheritance, state, encapsulation, concurrency, dataflow, lazy evaluation, nondeterminism, agent (active object), lock (lock), monitor transaction Deadlock (deadlock), higher-order programming, compositionality, etc..
• Description of a wide spectrum of programming paradigms, relationship between these paradigms and introduction to the major programming languages.
• Reasoning and design techniques with different paradigms to design correct programs.
• Practical applications in several areas (eg, simulation of logic circuits, simulation lifts, a transaction manager).

• Van Roy P. and Haridi S, "Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming", MIT Press, March 2004 (mandatory book)
• Mozart Programming System version 1.4.0, www.mozart-oz.org.