There is no main reference, except for your own notes from the lectures along with any electronic lecture slides [ELS08] or other supplementary material. However, you will likely find it useful to have a book to give you an additional perspective on and more depth to the material covered, as well as a help to understand some of the harder topics. Some suggestions below.
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The book Types and Programming Languages [Pie02] by Benjamin Pierce covers many of the topics of the module in depth. It is recommended though not essential reading. The book itself is very good for further studies, both as a textbook and as a reference book. The library has copies. |
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The G52MAL lecture notes |
Somewhat tentative overview; in particular towards the end.
OLN = Own Lecture Notes. For other references, see list at end of page.
| Lecture# | Date | Content | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 Sep | Administrative Details and Introduction | [ELS08, Le 1] |
| 2 | 29 Sep | Alphabets, Words, Languages; Introduction to Context-Free Grammars | [ELS08, Le 2; AN07, pp. 6, pp. 21--33; HMU01, ch. 1, pp. 169--177, 191--205] |
| 3 | 1 Oct | Context-Free Grammars, Derivation Trees, and Ambiguity | [ELS08, Le 3; AN07, pp. 32--37; HMU01, pp. 177--191, 205--207, 211--214] |
| 4 | 6 Oct | Abstract Syntax | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 3, p. 53] |
| 5 | 8 Oct | Induction on Terms | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 2] |
| 6 | 13 Oct | Introduction to Programming Language Semantics | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 3] |
| 7 | 15 Oct | Operational Semantics I: Basics | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 3] |
| 8 | 20 Oct | Operational Semantics II: Induction on Derivations | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 3] |
| 9 | 22 Oct | Operational Semantics III: State | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 13 |
| 10 | 27 Oct | The Untyped Lambda-Calculus I: Introduction | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 5] |
| 11 | 29 Oct | The Untyped Lambda-Calculus II: Programming in the Lambda Calculus | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 5] |
| 12 | 3 Nov | The Untyped Lambda-Calculus III: Recursion | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 5] |
| 13 | 5 Nov | The Untyped Lambda-Calculus IV: Operational Semantics and Reduction Orders | [OLN; Pie02, ch. 5] |
| 14 | 10 Nov | Types and Type Systems I | [ELS08, Le 14; Pie02, ch. 1, ch. 8] |
| 15 | 12 Nov | Types and Type Systems II | [ELS08, Le 15; Pie02, ch. 8, ch. 14] |
| 16 | 17 Nov | Types and Type Systems III | [ELS08, Le 16; Pie02, ch. 9] |
| 17 | 19 Nov | The Polymorphic Lambda.Calculus (System F) | |
| 18 | 24 Nov | Denotational Semantics and Domain Theory I | |
| 19 | 26 Nov | Denotational Semantics and Domain Theory II | |
| 20 | 1 Dec | Denotational Semantics and Domain Theory III | |
| 21 | 3 Dec | Denotational Semantics and Domain Theory IV | |
| 22 | 8 Dec | Presentations | |
| 23 | 10 Dec | Presentations |
Copies of lecture notes, slides, any major pieces of program code, or other electronic material used during the lectures can be found here.
The assessment is broken down as follows:
However, in the case of a resit:
The coursework consists of choosing a topic form the list below and, based on this,
The report should be targeted to your fellow students, i.e. you can assume the reader will know the basics of operational semantics, lambda-calculus, etc. The expected length is around 10 pages, which is about 3000 to 4000 words excluding diagrams, code, references.
Deadline for the report: Thursday 3 December
The presentation should be an introduction to your topic, targeted so that it is understandable to your peers given what we have covered in this module. The presentations will take place during the last week week of term, on the 8 and 10 December. Exact schedule TBA.
In order to encourage active participation and stimulate discussion after each presentation, the reports will be made available electronically to you all as soon as possible after the report deadline. Prior to the presentations, you are expected to familiarise yourselves with the report(s) that are being presented by your fellow students, and prepare a couple of technical questions to ask after the presentations. Active participation in the presentation sessions will count for a significant part of the overall active participation mark.
The front cover of the report should state clearly:
Submission: Electronically, by e-mail directly to the module convener, PDF format only. Make sure you get an acknowledgement that the report has been received successfully within a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise, resubmit.
Some basic information about the exam:
Past examination papers can be found via the Intranet Portal under the Library Tab. Search for Exam Papers. Or see here for further info.
Answers to the January 2009 exam can be found here.