Programming Language Design (PLD)

Course content

The course explores the design space of programming languages and how the design choices affect the implementation and other properties of the language.

A brief history of programming languages is presented and a selected set of features are explored with respect to design choices, how they interact and how they can be implemented.

The aim is to give the student an understanding of the programming-language landscape that will both be helpful when the student designs and implements programming languages but also to better understand existing programming languages.

Education

BSc Programme in Computer Science

Learning outcome

The course aims to give the student:

Knowledge of

  • Implementation strategies
  • Syntax
  • Memory management
  • Scope rules
  • Control structures
  • Types
  • Language paradigms
  • Modules
  • Semantics
  • Domain-specific languages
  • Computational power of languages

 

Skills to

  • Design and implement simple programming languages or language extensions using several of the above-listed features.
  • Describe this language using a mixture of formal and informal specification.

 

Competences to

  • Evaluate how design choices affect and are affected by implementation methods and other properties of programming languages.
  • Design or extend a programming language tailored to a specific problem area or observing specific properties.

Lectures, classroom exercises, projects.

The student should have knowledge of basic programming language implementation equivalent to the courses "Oversættere (OV)" or "Implementering af programmeringssprog (IPS)" and have experience programming in several language paradigms including functional, imperative and object-oriented languages.

Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Continuous assessment
The grade is given as a weighted average of four individual take-home assignments, where the final assignment is weighted as 40% of the total and the three first combined as 60%. To pass the course, every assignment must receive at least one third of the maximal points for that assignment, and the total must be at least half the maximal combined points.

It is possible to resubmit the three first assignments one week after they are evaluated. Due to time constraints it is not possible to resubmit the last assignment.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Several internal examiners
Criteria for exam assessment

See Learning Outcome.

Single subject courses (day)

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 32
  • Preparation
  • 52
  • Theory exercises
  • 40
  • Exercises
  • 32
  • Project work
  • 50
  • English
  • 206