Programming Language Concepts | COMP2212 | University of Southampton

Module overview

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the fundamental concepts underlying all programming languages, to introduce a broad range of programming language styles and features, and to provide the theoretical foundation that they will need in order to be able to make informed judgements about programming languages

Linked modules

Pre-requisites: COMP2209 and COMP2210

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Understand diverse approaches to formal semantics of programming languages
Understand the main conceptual features of modern programming languages
Use diverse programming language primitives for concurrency
Understand common features of type systems and type discipline in various programming languages
Distinguish between families of languages (imperative, OO, functional, declarative) and within families (dynamically typed vs statically typed, call by name vs call by value, etc)

Syllabus

Compiled vs. interpreted languages
Imperative, functional and declarative languages
Scope and binding
Type systems
Type inference
Reasoning about programs
Contextual equivalence
Programming language semantics: operational, denotational and axiomatic semantics
Threading and thread safety
Reasoning about concurrent programs
Concurrency primitives in modern programming languages

Learning and Teaching

Study time
Type	Hours
Preparation for scheduled sessions	18
Follow-up work	18
Tutorial	12
Wider reading or practice	43
Completion of assessment task	13
Revision	10
Lecture	36
Total study time	150

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Final Assessment	60%
Continuous Assessment	40%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Set Task	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Set Task	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External