COURSE DESCRIPTION
 
  Department and Course Number: CS2135
  Course Coordinator: Kathi Fisler

  Course Title: CS2135 -- Programming Language Concepts
  Total Credits: 1/3 unit

Current Catalog Description  
 
  This course introduces the student to the fundamental concepts of
  programming languages, models of programming languages, and the
  basic concepts of language translation.

  Topics include syntactic structure, binding, scope, parameter
  passing, control structures, and run-time environments. Imperative
  and functional programming languages will be contrasted. Different
  programming languages will be examined to illustrate these
  principles.

  Students will be expected to acquire competence in functional
  programming.

  Intended audience: computer science and computer engineering students,
  and those desiring a deeper understanding of computer programming.

Textbook: The Little Schemer; Daniel P. Friedman and Matthias
            Felleisen; MIT Press 1996.
          How to Design Programs; Matthias Felleisen, Matthew Flatt,
	    Robert Bruce Findler, and Shriram Krishnamurth; MIT Press 2001
 
References      

  The course web page is at http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~kfisler/Courses/2135/A01/
 
Course Goals   
 
  By the end of the course, students are expected to develop skills in
  modeling and implementing simple languages, in understanding the
  impact of certain key features of programming languages, and in
  functional programming.

Prerequisites by Topic: The first two programming courses (CS1005,
CS1006)
 
Major Topics Covered in the Course: 

  Functional Programming (16 hrs)
  Modeling Programming Languages as Data (2 hrs)
  Interpreters (5 hrs)
  Introduction to Program Transformation/Compilers (5 hrs)
 
Laboratory projects (specify number of weeks on each)
  
  One 3 week project on viewing web programming through programming
  languages concepts.
   
Estimate CSAB Category Content
 
      CORE
       
      Concepts of Programming Languages   3
     
Oral and Written Communications
 
Every student is required to submit at least __1__ written reports
(not including exams, tests, quizzes, or commented programs) of
typically __3__ pages and to make __0__ oral presentations of
typically __0__ minutes duration.  
 
Social and Ethical Issues
 
N/A
 
Theoretical Content
 
Course material is mathematical in flavor, but students don't
explicitly work with the mathematics.

Problem Analysis
 
All students are expected to learn to analyze problem statements to
derive concise mathematical descriptions of the data being used in
the problem.
 
Solution Design
 
All students are expected to learn how program design follows from
data structure for large classes of smaller programming problems.
Student programs are expected to follow the structure of the data used
in the problem the program solves.  Students also learn how to
systematically design (ie, compile) web scripts from traditional,
batch-style programs.