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Programming Languages

CS 242. Programming Languages. John Mitchell. Course web site: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs242/. Some Course Goals. Programming Language Concepts A language is a “conceptual universe” (Perlis) Framework for problem-solving Useful concepts and programming methods

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Programming Languages

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  1. CS 242 Programming Languages John Mitchell Course web site: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs242/

  2. Some Course Goals • Programming Language Concepts • A language is a “conceptual universe” (Perlis) • Framework for problem-solving • Useful concepts and programming methods • Understand the languages you use, by comparison • Appreciate history, diversity of ideas in programming • Be prepared for new programming methods, paradigms, tools • Critical thought • Identify properties of language, not syntax or sales pitch • Language and implementation • Every convenience has its cost • Recognize the cost of presenting an abstract view of machine • Understand trade-offs in programming language design

  3. Language goals and trade-offs Architect Programmer Programming Language Tester Compiler, Runtime environ-ment DiagnosticTools

  4. Value of Language Concepts • Parable • I started programming in 1970’s • Dominant language was Fortran; no recursive functions • My algorithms and data structure instructor said: • Recursion is a good idea even though inefficient • You can use idea in Fortran by storing stack in array • Today: recursive functions everywhere • Moral • Futuristic ideas may be useful problem-solving methods now, and may be part of languages you use in the future • Current examples • Function passing: pass functions in C by building your own closures, as in STL “function objects” • Continuations: used in web languages for workflow processing • Monads: programming technique from functional programming • Concurrency

  5. Languages in common use Compiled by François Labelle from statistics on open-source projects at SourceForge

  6. What’s new in programming languages • Commercial trend over past 5 years • Increasing use of type-safe languages: Java, C#, … • Scripting languages, other languages for web applications • Teaching trends • Java replaces C as most common intro language • Less emphasis on how data, control represented in machine • Research and development trends • Modularity • Java, C++: standardization of new module features • Program analysis • Automated error detection, programming env, compilation • Isolation and security • Sandboxing, language-based security, … • Web 2.0 • Increasing client-side functionality, mashup isolation problems

  7. What’s worth studying? • Dominant languages and paradigms • C, C++, Java • Imperative and Object-oriented languages • Explosion of programming technologies for the web • Important implementation ideas • Performance challenges • Concurrency • Design tradeoffs • Concepts that research community is exploring for new programming languages and tools

  8. Joining us this year • Kathleen Fisher • Research interests • PADS language for specifying physical data representations • Hancock: C-based, domain-specific programming language designed to facilitate extracting useful information from massive data streams • Professional activities • Chair of SIGPLAN, Editorial Board of JFP, … • Home page • http://www.research.att.com/info/kfisher

  9. First half of course (subject to change) • JavaScript (1 lecture) • Current language illustrating features covered in course • Conventional prog. language concepts (4 lectures) • Block structure and memory management (1 lecture) • ML, Haskell (1 lecture) • Control constructs (1 lecture) • Types and type checking/inference (1 lecture) • Programming techniques from the future (3 lectures) • Generalized Abstract Data Types (1 lecture) • Type classes (1 lecture) • Monads (1 lecture) • Theoretical foundations (1 lecture) • Operational semantics, via JavaScript --------------------- Midterm Exam ------------------------

  10. Second half of course • Modularity, data abstraction, objects (1 lecture) • Object-oriented languages (5 lectures) • Smalltalk and Self (1.5 lectures) • C++ (1.5 lectures) • Java (2 lectures) • Security (1 lecture) • Concurrency (2 lectures) • Conclusions and review (1 lecture) --------------------- Final Exam ------------------------

  11. General suggestions • Read ahead • Some details are only in HW and reading • Scope of course defined by lectures, reading assignments, and homework • There is something difficult about this course • May be hard to understand homework questions Thought questions: cannot run and debug May sound like there is no right answer, but some answers are better than others • Many of you may be used to overlooking language problems, so it takes a few weeks to see the issues

  12. Course Logistics • Homework and Exams • HW handed out and due on Wednesdays • Midterm Wed Oct 22 7-9PM, Final Wed Dec 10, 12:15-3:15 PM • Honor Code, Collaboration Policy • Homework grader? • Send email to cs242@cs.stanford.edu email addr • TA’s, Office hours, Email policy, … • Section • Friday afternoons, 2:15-3:05 in Gates B03 • Optional discussion and review; no new material • Reading material • Book available in bookstore (Concepts in Programming Lang.) • Supplementary reading on web See web site…

  13. Questions?

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