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C00002 00002 Part one: Functions as passive objects
C00009 00003 Part two: Functions as active objects
C00011 00004 The Art of Computer Science: Undergraduate Special Topics Course
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Part one: Functions as passive objects
1 Notation
The role of notation in science
expressivity
subordination of detail
economy
amenability to proof
The impact of computing on notation
executability
representability of algorithms
The difficulties with programming languages
Computation and interaction
The relationship between language and its medium
why computing languages cannot be separated
from the programming env
cf. conversation and understanding
The polarization between interaction and discipline
pascal vs. lisp vs. ucsd pascal vs smalltalk
The polarization between rigor and hacking
basic vs. (lisp/scheme)
lab: use wordsmith to create simple text files
2 The language
3 Data domain: The whole numbers
Algorithmic notation
conditional expressions
definitions
recursion
numerical examples
computation as deduction
axioms for number theroy
rules of inference
substitution and simplification
number theory
conditional
the concept of proof
equivalence
termination
Data Domain: symbolic expressions
the representability of programs
abstract objects
constructors, selectors, and recognizers
The mapping of expressions to data structures
Non-numeric computation: examples
evaluation of polynomials
simplification of algebraic expressions
propositional logic: evaluation
?theorem proving
binary trees (l-n-r) rep, sort, add, del
missionaries and cannibal
game stuff
4 Evaluation
5 Deduction vs computation, again
systems for substitution and simplification
computation as controlled deduction
call-by-name vs. call-by-value
Semantics of programming languages
Representability of programs
a detailed discussion
An evaluation algorithm
The operational view
Implementation strategies
call-by-value
weak vs. strong conditional
simulation of substitution
extending the evaluator
macros and read-macros: abbreviational convenience
iteration: language extension and special forms
6 A modern LISP: more data structuring
7 The idea of "first-class data"
implementation-driven languages violate notational principles
arbitrary precision numbers
Strings
Arrays
property-lists (flex records)
8 Property-lists and message passing
classes as properties
algorithms as message passing
hieracharies and flavors
hierarchies as implementation simplification
9 Object-oriented programming
10 Smalltalk and Actors
11 Lexical vs dynamic scoping: the beginnings of active functions
Evaluation revisited
functionals
the difficulty with functional arguments
variables: local, free, global
added complexity of functional values
6 Control: function vs algorithm
an analysis of the evaluator
the run-time structure
stacks
stacks+access and control links
tree access, control stack
tree access, tree control
7 Applicative v.s. imperative
control as a programming tool
side-effects
assignment, rplaca, rplacd
13 Implementation considerations
implementation of the evaluation process
read
parsers and scanners
searching and hashing
print
runtime language support
i-j pairs
shallow versus deep
run-time data support
numbers
arbitrary precision numbers
trees
programmer maintained
reference counting
garbage collection
mark sweep
copy-compacting
cheney
baker
henry&carl
12 Machines and compiling
13 The LISP machine
Traditional machines as microcode
Compilation
program representation
list structure
scheme hacks
p-code/byte code/MACRO
machine specific
Hardware
LISP machine
Scheme chips
14 The Racks paper: a bridge from passive to active
Part two: Functions as active objects
14 Functions as first-class objects
15 Relationship between
purity:lexical and
utility: dynamic
interactive creation of functional objects
programming in "levels"
16 Applications of functional objects
car,cdr, cons as:
1. arrays and functional
2. pure functional (t, f)
3. 1 as msg passing
17 stacks as functionals (gls/gjs)
18 multiprocessing (wand/aip)
19 Evaluation of Functionals
evaluators for full funarg
evaluators for smalltalk (ingalls)
20 Applications of lisp-related computing
cad
nl
business data bases --must do much better here
21 The future of computing
interactive programming
language designs
theory
ai applications
The Art of Computer Science: Undergraduate Special Topics Course
The point of the course is to present the fundamental notions of
computing.
The course has the same general characteristic as that of the functional
programming class, but will use a curriculum based on access to
interactive personal computers as the primary tool for gaining fluency
with the concepts and gaining an understanding of interactive computing.
The notions of computing are quite simple, yet the contemporary approach
tends to obfuscate rather than illuminate. At the concept level, simple
ideas become buried in syntax: algorithms are confused with programming
language syntax; computation is confused with compiling; compiling is
confused with syntax analysis.
On the technological side, the Practice of computing suffers from the dead
weight of twenty years of batch processing. "Glass teletypes" create card
decks and text editors manipulate card images. Alas, certain computing
"methodologies" even glory in the "discipline" that such primitive
interaction forces one to endure.
Without an understanding of fundamental concepts, and saddled with the
outdated and stilted programming techniques, it is not suprising that
computer-related productivity is falling.
Fortunately, the intellectual legacy of mathematical logic and be coupled
with a few insights of modern computing to supply an adequate foundation
for modern computing. The missing ingredient in the traditional setting
was the baroque computing engine that logicians used; a Turing machine is
a dreadful architecture. The fundamentals of the new formalism were
discussed by John McCarthy twenty years ago, and have been the basis of
the programming language named LISP. The new ingredient is the development
of the personal computing environment. One cannot effectively learn about
computing without practicing the art. Until recently, appropriate tools
for computing "practice" have been restricted to research establishments
for at least two reasons. First, many of the ideas about effective
interactive environments have been the subject of research; secondly, and
more immediate, the cost of these components has been extraordinally high.
Technology has changed that second consideration, and the research ideas
have reached a synthesis stage. The time is therefore ripe to move the
intellectual and methodological and technological results into the
educational domain. That is the intent of this course.