CS 15-150: Principles of Functional Programming
(Fall 2013)

About this course  [  Description  |  Prerequisites  |  Feedback  |  Software  |  Readings  |  Grading  |  Assessment  ]

Description

This course has the purpose of introducing students who have had experience with basic data structures and algorithms to more advanced skills, concepts and techniques in programming and Computer Science in general. This will be accomplished along three dimensions. After completing 15-150, you will be able to take 15-210 (Parallel and Sequential Data Structures and Algorithms) and 15-214 (Principles of Software System Construction).

Prerequisites

You must have completed 21-127 (Concepts of Mathematics).

Feedback

It is my goal to make this course successful, stimulating and enjoyable. If at any time you feel that the course is not meeting your expectations or you want to provide feedback on how the course is progressing for you, please contact me. If you would like to provide anonymous comments, please use the feedback form on the course home page or slide a note under my door. Comments of general interest will be answered on the course discussion board.

Software

The course relies extensively on the programming language Standard ML (SML) and related utilities. The particular implementation we will be working with is Standard ML of New Jersey (SML/NJ), version 110.75.

SML on Your Own Laptop

The most convenient way to use SML is to install a personal copy of SML/NJ on your laptop. For Windows laptops, download this file and follow these instructions. If you run a different operating systems, read here. You will want to configure your favorite editor so that you can run SML directly inside it, not from a separate terminal window.

SML at CMU

A reference build has also been made available in the virtual Unix clusters. To run it, you need to login into your Unix account. In Windows, you do this by firing PuTTy and specifying unix.qatar.cmu.edu as the machine name. When the PuTTy window comes up, type sml, do your work, and then hit CTRL-D when you are done.

You can edit your files directly under Unix (the easiest way is to run the X-Win32 utility from Windows and then run the Emacs editor from the PuTTy window by typing emacs - see also this tutorial).

If you want to do all this from your own laptop, you first need to install X-Win32 from here. PuTTy is pre-installed in Windows.

Documentation

Useful documentation can be found on the SML/NJ web site. The following files will be particularly useful:

Latex

We strongly encourage you to typeset the written part of your homeworks in LaTeX (we will take this into account as part of your participation grade). It takes some getting used to it, especially if MS Word is all you've been exposed to, but it enormously simplifies producing pleasant mathematics. Here are some useful references: You may find this Latex template for homeworks useful.

Readings

The 15-212 Wiki

The material for most of the lectures can be found on the 15-212 wiki. This is wiki, not a textbook. The main differences are:

Further References

Grading

This is a 10 unit course.

Tasks and Percentages

Evaluation Criteria

Your assignments and exams are evaluated on the basis of:

Late Policy

There are no late days. Assignments submitted past the deadline will get a grade of 0.

Academic Integrity

You are expected to comply with the University Policy on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism. Note that the policy now requires that students acknowledge any help received from the Academic Resource Center (ARC).

Collaboration is regulated by the whiteboard policy: you can bounce ideas about a homework with other students, but when it comes to typing it down for submission, you are on your own — no notes, files, snapshots, etc. Morever, you must wait at least 4 hours before writing down the solution.

Assessment

Course Objectives

This course seeks to develop students who:
  1. can leverage the mathematical structure of a problem to develop a solution
  2. can use abstraction and modularity to manage complexity
  3. can use formal arguments to justify the correctness of a problem solution and determine its asymptotic cost
  4. master a non-declarative programming paradigm
  5. have gained advanced skills, concepts and techniques in programming and Computer Science

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
  1. explain and use basic programming language concepts such as typing, evaluation, declarations, expressions, values, and types
  2. explain and use advanced programming language concepts such as data types, pattern matching, polymorphism, higher-order functions, continuations, exceptions, streams, memoization, modularity
  3. design recursive algorithms and develop recursive programs
  4. use mathematical induction to prove program correctness
  5. determine the asymptotic cost of a sequential and maximally parallel solution to a problem
  6. model problems in Computer Science using lists, trees and graphs
  7. exploit a problem's data flow to program parallel solutions
  8. program symbolic solutions to problems using data types and pattern matching
  9. use polymorphism and functional arguments to build reusable program modules
  10. develop abstract and parametric modules for code reusability
  11. recognize non-computable problems and give formal arguments to support non-computability claims

2013 Iliano Cervesato