Who, when, where and what
The instructor for CSCI 431 is J Dean Brock. The course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM in RRO 223 (and sometimes RRO 217).
Class home page
All class handouts, including assignments, can be accessed through the following URL:
Catalog Course Description
Organization of Programming Languages
Definition and design of high-level programming languages; formal tools for language definition and specification of semantics; case studies of several languages. Prerequisite: CSCI 434. Even years Spring.
Degree requirements fulfilled
- CSCI 431 is a required course in the Computer Systems concentration of the Computer Science major.
- CSCI 431 will fulfill three credit hours of the “6 additional hours in CSCI at the 300 level and above” required in the Infomration System concentration of the Computer Science major.
- And, of course, all students can use CSCI 431 to fulfill three credit hours of the required 122 for graduation.
Learning objectives
Major objectives
CSCI 431 partially fulfills the following objective of the Computer Science major.
- Students will understand problems by offering clear, concise, and comprehensive descriptions.
- Students will design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the discipline.
- Students will systematically evaluate various possible solutions.
- Students will write comprehensive technical documents that engagingly and accurately describe their work.
- Students will reason about and explain computer-based solutions at multiple levels of abstraction.
- Students will apply theory in the design and implementation of computer-based solutions.
Course specific objections
- Programming language syntax and its specification
- Scope in programming languages
- Type systems: elementary, composite and objects
- Control abstraction: Functions, procedures and classes
- Declarative languages
- Concurrency
- Scripting languages
Textbook
The required textbook for the course is Programming Language Pragmatics 4th edition, (ISBN: 978-0-12-410409-9) written by Michael L. Scott. We will cover a subset of Chapters 1 to 14 of the textbook during this course.
Useful support material for the textbook, such as source code of most programming materials can be found on the textbook’s companion site.
Other useful references
You will write programs in several programming languages for this course. Adequate documentation for these languages will generally be available though the net or on-line resources of the UNC Asheville library.
We will be using the departmental Linux computers in this class. If you want a brief reference for Linux, look at UNC Chapel Hill reference on UNIX/Linux: Getting Started. If you want a seriously good reference for Linux and the command line, I suggest using William Shotts’ Learning the Shell. You can access an on-line copy of this book at no cost through the UNC Asheville library.
Grades
Weights
The following weights are used in computing the course grade.
| Grade component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Three in-class exams | ¼ |
| Final exam | ¼ |
| Homework | ¼ |
| In class labs | ¼ |
Scale
The following numerical scale will be used in assigning grades based on Score, the score computed using the weights described above.
| Score ≥ 93 | A |
| Score ≥ 90 & Score < 93 | A- |
| Score ≥ 87 & Score < 90 | B+ |
| Score ≥ 83 & Score < 87 | B |
| Score ≥ 80 & Score < 83 | B- |
| Score ≥ 77 & Score < 80 | C+ |
| Score ≥ 73 & Score < 77 | C |
| Score ≥ 70 & Score < 73 | C- |
| Score ≥ 67 & Score < 70 | D+ |
| Score ≥ 60 & Score < 67 | D |
| Score < 60 | F |
Exams
Three equally-weighted 75-minute in-class exams will be given during the semester along with one final exam. All exams will have both closed-book and open-book sections. will contain on-line
Exam attendance
UNC Asheville’s Academic Policies and Procedures do provide excused absences for “travel on university-sanctioned business” and “up to two excused absences per semester for religious observances” when seven days notice is given. The seven day notice will allow the instructor to reschedule exams to avoid excused absenses. For this reason, attendance at all exams is mandatory. If an exam is missed due for an unexpected and uncontrollable event, the final exam will be use to provide a replacement for the missed exam.
Lab participation
Generally, each week will have a lab experienced. Labs, which will often require a Moodle upload, will be graded, on a 10 point scale.
- Students who complete all the objectives of the in-class/in-lab exercise will get a grade of 9.3, the boundary point between an A and A-.
- Students who sparkle and inspire will receive 10, the A+++. 10’s are rare.
- Students who don’t read instructions will receive a grade not far from 7.
- Students who TXT constantly will be lucky to receive a 3.
- Students who TXT each other will receive 0.1 of 10.
In computing the lab average, the two lowest lab grades will be dropped.
Homework
Roughly once per week there will be a homework assignment. Some of these will be two-week programming assignments. The homeworks and their due dates will be listed on moodle. In general, homework requires programming or some serious figuring.
Late homework submissions must be downloaded to moodle. A penalty of 1% per hour, rounded up to the next hour, will be applied to late homework.
Unless explicitly stated in the description of a homework assignment, a submitted assignment must be the result of the student’s individual effort. If this is not done, no credit will be given for the homework and, as required by university policy, a report will be made to the Assistant Provost for Academic Administration.
Classroom expectations
The classroom is a place where students and faculty behave professionally. We are polite and attentive. We avoid talk of politics and religion. We do not use offensive language. We show up on time.
Electronics in the classroom
You are welcome to use your electronic devices to take notes. However, you should read the article Why students using laptops learn less in class even when they really are taking notes from the Washington Post before you give up on handwritten notes.
Electronic devices should not be used for gaming and social media during class. This distracts others in the class.
Sometimes you may need to discretely respond to a TXT message received during class. In these cases, it usually is best to leave the room. Do not use TXT messages to communicate to others in class. That is very impolite.
Required attendance
Some class activities, such as exams, generate grades. You will receive a grade of 0 for those activities you miss. If you have an authorized excuse, you will be given an opportunity for a make-up exam.
Some class periods may be dedicated to student presentations. You are expected to attend all presentations by your fellow students. If you do not, your grade for own presentation will be adjusted.
Academic misconduct
It is never proper to claim another’s work as your own in graded work.
Unless explicitly stated in the description of an assignment, a submitted assignment must be the result of your individual effort. This is similar to the expectations of the professional workplace.
Impermissible actions
There are several impermissible actions that will result in the imposition of course or university sanctions. Impermissible actions in homework assignments include the following:
- Copying any portion of another student’s work by any method.
- Allowing another student to copy or view your work by any method.
- Copying program source from the web unless the program source is provided by the course instructor.
Impermissible actions on exams include the following:
- Use of any unauthorized devices or sources of information.
- Giving and receiving information to another student by any method.
- Using cell phones during exams.
Course sanctions for impermissible actions
For assignments, the first offense will result in a grade of 0 for the assignment and the second offense will result in a grade of F for the course. For exams, any offense will result in a grade of F for the course. These are the expected sanctions for courses at UNC Asheville.
University policy on academic misconduct
The UNC Asheville Student Handbook has a section devoted to Academic Misconduct. It states the following:
A student accused of academic dishonesty should talk with his or her instructor. In all situations where a student has been disciplined for plagiarism or cheating, the instructor is to submit to the VCAA a brief statement of the case; the student is to receive a copy of this document. Depending upon the severity and/or repetition of the offense, the VCAA may choose to impose a penalty of cancellation of graduation with honors; cancellation of scholarships; dismissal from the university; or any other penalty which he or she deems logical and deserved. A student has 10 class days to respond to this document, in writing; this response is to be sent to the VCAA for attachment to the document submitted by the instructor.
In practice, students who have been involved in academic misconduct in three courses will be suspended for a semester. However a single significant offense, such as the submission of a plagiarized paper in entirety, can result in immediate dismissal.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Statement from the Office of Academic Accessibility
University of North Carolina at Asheville is committed to making courses, programs and activities accessible to persons with documented disabilities. Students requesting accommodations and/or academic adjustments must do so through the Office of Academic Accessibility and may be required to provide supporting documentation. All information provided will remain confidential. For more information please contact the Office of Academic Accessibility at (828)232-5050 or academicaccess@unca.edu, visit them in the OneStop Student Services Center or at their website https://oaa.unca.edu/ .
Specific clarifications for CSCI 235
Students who have been approved for extended time for exams by the Office of Academic Accessibility must have their exams administered by the Office of Academic Accessibility and must take their exams at a time overlapping the scheduled in-class exam.
Students who need additional time for CSCI 235 labs should plan on attending both the Monday and Wednesday labs.
Email communications
Information protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act should only be sent to official university email addresses. Information related to recorded grades is clearly protected, as is any discussion that would allow a reader to draw conclusions about your performance or attendance in class.
Email sent to me, even if it does not involve the use of state-maintained computers, may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and, as such, may be disclosed to third parties.
For more information and help
I have office hours are 3:30 to 5:00 on Monday and Wednesday The best way to get in touch with me quickly is to send email to brock@unca.edu.
I get lots of email, so please include CSCI 235 in the subject line.