CM20168: Programming IV Department of Computer Science HOME PAGE

• Syllabus
• A prospective ordering of this material is as follows:
  1. Objects - a taxonomy of object-oriented languages. Class versus object-centred object languages: examples will be drawn from some or all of Javascript, Lisp and C++ (for the standard template library). The mechanisms that make object- and class-centred languages work. Multiple inheritance and the superclass linearization problem. Meta-object programming: programming the programming language.
  2. Strings and patterns. Regular expression and context free recognizers. First order patterns. Unification. To examine how matching appears in a range of languages, starting as a tool and finishing as an integral part of the language's execution model. Examples will be drawn from some or all of SPITBOL, awk/Perl, ML, Prolog.
  3. Domain-specific languages. Many languages have been invented to solve very specialised problems, but have then sprouted more general facilities: how effective is such an evolution? Examples will be drawn from some or all of make, Unix shell, Forth, APL, Axiom.
  4. Events. Callbacks, exceptions and continuations. Reactive programming, generative programming (Linda-like models). Threads, copperative multi-tasking and true concurrency. Examples will be drawn from some or all of C, Scheme, ML, C++, Tcl/Tk, Java.
  5. Macro languages. A special category of domain-specific - perhaps? Rewriting and reduction. Evaluation order. Examples drawn from some or all of the C pre-processor, M4, LaTeX, Lisp, XML/XSLT
  6. Concurrent and parallel languages. SIMD, MIMD, SPMD programming models. Contrast with reactive/generative models. Examples will be drawn from some or all of Java, Fortran-90.
  7. may be continued...
• Assessed coursework will be carried out working in groups and take the form of a web-published report. The group and personal report forms must accompany each submission. Please take note of the University's advice regarding plagiarism. The feedback on this year's coursework is now available.

  The courseworks delivered in 2001-2002 may be viewed here

• There is a reading list and a list of directed reading material, linking the lectures and the recommended text.
• Some links to useful/relevant material on the WWW.
• Group assignments for coursework
• Past exam papers and answers are available:
  1. 2002 questions and answers
  2. 2003 questions and answers
• Copies of the handouts are available as PDF files in case you missed them during lectures: introduction-3up.pdf, ools-3up.pdf, patterns-3up.pdf. control-3up.pdf. concurrency-3up.pdf. macro-3up.pdf.

If you have any comments or there is something that you think should be added to this page or any of its descendants, please send me mail at jap commercial-at-sign cs.bath.ac.uk.