COMP 311 / COMP 544: Functional Programming (Fall 2020)


Instructors

Robert "Corky" Cartwright

TA

TBA

Lectures

Online using Zoom

Lecture Times

9:40am–11:00am TR

Instructor Emailcork@rice.eduOnline DiscussionPiazza – Rice Comp 311


Brief Description

This class provides an introduction to functional programming. Functional programming is a style of programming in which computations are solely expressed in terms of applications of functions to arguments (which themselves can be functions). This style of programming has a long history in computer science, beginning with the formulation of the Lambda Calculus as a foundation for mathematics. It has become increasingly popular in recent years because it offers important advantages in designing, maintaining, and reasoning about programs in modern contexts such as web services, parallel (multicore) programming, and distributed computing. Course work consists of a series of programming assignments in the Racket, Java, and Haskell programming languages plus occasional written homework assignments on underlying theory.

Grading, Honor Code Policy, Processes, and Procedures

Grading will be based on your performance on weekly programming assignments and two exams: a midterm and a final. All work in this class is expected to be your own, and you are expected not to post your solutions or share your work with other students, even after you have taken the course. Please read the Comp 311 Honor Code Policy for more details on how you are expected to work on your assignments. There will also be a final exam, as described in the syllabus.

All students will be held to the standards of the Rice Honor Code, a code that you pledged to honor when you matriculated at this institution. If you are unfamiliar with the details of this code and how it is administered, you should consult the Honor System Handbook. This handbook outlines the University's expectations for the integrity of your academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process.

 
Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me during the first two weeks of class regarding special needs. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center and the Rice Disability Support Services.


General Information


Office Hours
Instructor




Corky Cartwright

TuTh


1:30pm-2:30pm

By appointment

Online via Zoom

Online via Zoom

Teaching Assistants

Agnishom

Andrew Obler

Chunxiao Liao

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

Online via Zoom

Online via Zoom

Online via Zoom

Textbooks
Recommended Videos
Development Environment
  • DrRacket is recommended for all Racket homework assignments in this course. The interface is "textually transparent" as we will show in class.
  • DrJava is the supported IDE for Java in this course, but you are welcome to use any IDE such as IntellJ or Eclipse.
  • We are still evaluating IDEs for Haskell.

Lecture Schedule (In Progress)


Week

Day

Date

Lecture Topic and Resources

Work AssignedWork Due

1

Tu

Aug 27

Motivation and the Elements (Constants) of Racket

HTDP Part 1 (Ch 1-8)Sep 03

ThAug 29[Canceled for Hurricane Laura]
Sep 05

2

Tu

Sep 01

Conditionals, Function Definitions and Computation by Reduction

Homework 1

Review Ch 8

HTDP Part 2 (Ch 9-10)

Sep 08
3ThSep 03

The Program Design Recipe for Racket focusing on using recursion

to process lists and natural numbers

Preface, 9.4

HTDP Part 2 (Ch 11-13)

Sep 10

4

Tu

Sep 08

Data Definitions, Data-driven Structural Recursion,

Homework 2

HTDP Part 3

Sep 16
5ThSep 10Mutually Recursive Definitions and Help FunctionsHTDP Ch 15-17Sep 17

6

Tu

Sep 15

Local Definitions and Lexical Scope

Homework 3

 HTDP Parts 5-6

Sep 23

7

Th

Sep 17

Lambda the Ultimate and Reduction Semantics

LawsOfEval.pdfSep 26

8

TuSep 19


Functional Abstraction and Polymorphism
Oct 6

9

Th

Sep 24

Functions as Values

Homework 4Oct 5

10

Tu

Sep 29

Generative (Non-structural) Recursion



Oct 6

11

Th

Oct 01

Lazy Evaluation and Non-strict Constructors



12

Tu

Oct 06

Techniques for Implementing Lazy Evaluation

Homework 5*Oct 14

13

Th

Oct 08

A Glimpse at Imperative Racket and Memoization




Tu

Oct 13

Racket Review

Sample Exam

Sample Exam Key


13

Th

Oct 15

On to Java!

OO Design Notes

FriOct 16Midterm

14

Tu

Oct 22

Adapting the HTDP Design Recipe to JavaHomework 6 Oct 27

15

Th

Oct 24

Higher-order Functional Programming in Java



16

Tu

Oct 29

Four Key Idioms for Encoding FP in Java

Homework 7Nov 6

17

Th

Oct 31

The Singleton and Visitor Patterns



18

Tu

Nov 03

Java Generics and Their Role in FP in Java

Homework 8*Nov 16

19

Th

Nov 05

The Strategy Pattern: Functions as Arguments in Java



20

Tu

Nov 10

Core Haskell (call-by-name, lazy constructors) (Agnishom)



21

Th

Nov 12

Haskell Pattern Matching (Agnishom)

Homework 9Nov 19

22

Tu

Nov 17

Haskell Type Classes (Agnishom)


Dec 16

23

Th

Nov 19

Haskell Monads (Agnishom)

Final Project**

*Assignments marked with * are double assignments that count twice as much as regular assignments.  **indicates the project in lieu of a final examination.

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