Programming Language Design

Course Objective: To learn the essentials and design philosophy of programming languages. By comparing similar concepts in different programming languages to understand why they were invented, see the differences between them, and know how to benefit from them even when they are supported by different syntax in various languages.

Course Description: This course will start by explaining the design dimensions in programming languages and discuss many programming paradigms along with their language constructs. We will talk about their origins, applications, merits, as well as demerits from the viewpoint of functionality and code modularity. Some relevant design patterns will also be mentioned and compared. Since these topics are hardly mentioned in existing textbooks, we will use our slides as the teaching materials. This year we will have many exercises for you to program in the classroom, so you will need to bring your laptop in these weeks.