CS Department Logo

COMS W4115
Programming Languages and Translators
Spring 2010
 Announcements
  Class meets 2:40-3:55pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, 833 Mudd.

Contact Sharadh Bhaskharan sb3053@columbia.edu for help in forming teams.

Class bulletin board: https://courseworks.columbia.edu
 Teaching Staff
 Name   email   Office hours    Location 
Prof. Al Aho   aho@cs.columbia.edu   Mon & Wed 1:00-2:00   513 CSB
 
Sharadh Bhaskharan   sb3053@columbia.edu   Wed 11-1, Thu 1:30-3:30   TA Room, 122 Mudd
Jyotsna Sebe   js3624@columbia.edu   Fri 10:00-noon   TA Room, 122 Mudd
Manish Vasani   mv2377@columbia.edu   Tue 4:00-6:00   TA Room, 122 Mudd
 
 Course Overview
  In PLT you will learn the syntactic and semantic elements of the most important modern programming languages as well as the algorithms and techniques used by compilers to translate them into machine and other target languages. The course will cover imperative, object-oriented, functional, logic, and scripting languages.

A highlight of this course is a semester-long programming project in which you will work in a small team to create and implement an innovative little language of your own design. This project will teach you project management, teamwork, and communication skills that you can apply in all aspects of your career.

Examples of past languages created in PLT can be found at
    Fall 2009 PLT Languages
    Spring 2009 PLT Languages
    Fall 2008 PLT Languages

The concepts, techniques, and tools that you will learn in this course have broad application to many areas of computer science outside of programming languages and compilers.

 Prerequisites
  Fluency in C and Java
  COMS W3137 Data Structures and Algorithms
  COMS W3261 Computer Science Theory
 Schedule 2009
Date  Lecture  Reading 
Jan 20   Introduction to PLT  Ch 1  
Jan 25   Language Design Issues   Ch 1  
Jan 27   Language Processing Tools   3.1-3.3  
Feb 1   Regular Expressions and Lexical Analysis   3.3, 3.5  
Feb 3   Implementing a Lexical Analyzer   3.1-3.8  
Feb 8   Context-Free Grammars   4.1-4.2  
Feb 10   Top-Down Parsing   4.2-4.3  
 Required Text
  Alfred V. Aho, Monica Lam, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman
Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, Second Edition
Addison-Wesley, 2007, ISBN 0-321-48681-1
 Additional References
  Andrew W. Appel
Modern Compiler Implementation in Java, Second Edition
Cambridge University Press, 2002
  Keith D. Cooper and Linda Torczon
Engineering a Compiler
Morgan Kaufmann, 2004
  Steven S. Muchnick
Advanced Compiler Design and Implementation
Morgan Kaufmann, 1997
  Michael L. Scott
Programming Language Pragmatics, Third Edition
Morgan Kaufmann, 2009

  Robert W. Sebesta
Concepts of Programming Languages, Ninth Edition
Addison-Wesley, 2010

  Stephen Edward's CS4115 Web Page
 Class Policies
  Grading 40 % Project
30 % Midterm
30 % Final
  Late Policy All assignments can be handed in one week after they are due for 50% credit.
aho@cs.columbia.edu Updated January 4, 2010