Engr 691-06: Special Topics in Engineering Science
(Software Language Engineering)
Spring 2009
Syllabus

Locations

The spring semester 2009 class meets in 106 Weir Hall at 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The class is taught by Prof. Conrad Cunningham, whose office is in 203 Weir Hall. The official office hours for this class are 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment at other times.

Prof. Cunningham's voice telephone number is (662) 915-5358 and fax number is (662) 915-5623. His WWW home page is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/ and his email address is cunningham AT cs DOT olemiss DOT edu.

The WWW home page for this class is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/langEngr/ .

The final examination for this class is scheduled for Monday, 4 May, 12:00 noon.

Student Disabilities Services Statement

"It is the responsibility of any student with a disability who requests a reasonable accommodation to contact the Office of Disability Services (915-7128). Contact will then be made by that office through the student to the instructor of this class. The instructor will then be happy to work with the student so that a reasonable accommodation of any disability can be made."

Course Description

The catalog has no description beyond that implied by the official course title Special Topics in Engineering Science.

The following is a draft catalog description for a possible new 600-level course on Software Language Engineering: Study of topics on the design, implementation, use, and evolution of artificial languages for the engineering of software. Languages of interest include general-purpose programming languages, domain-specific languages, modeling languages, data models, and ontologies as well as application programming interfaces and collections of design patterns that implicitly define languages programming using the new programming language Scala.

The Spring 2009 prototype offering of the course focuses on design and implementation of domain-specific languages (DSLs). This is a focus that will allow the concepts and techniques of the broader software language engineering topic to be explored.

Prerequisites

The catalog states no official prerequisites for Engr 691 other than graduate standing.

Anyone who does not have a mature understanding of programming in an object-oriented language (e.g., Java, C++, or Scala) and of the fundamental characteristics of programming language implementation should contact the instructor before enrolling in the course. Successful completion of CSci 311 and 450 or their equivalents should give sufficient background. However, working knowledge of the programming language Scala would also be a plus.

Course Outcomes/Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students:

1. know and understand the fundamental concepts and techniques of domain-specific languages (DSLs),
2. can analyze a problem and apply the DSL concepts to design a DSL solution, if appropriate to the problem and environment,
3. can implement an external DSL using appropriate language-processing tools,
4. can implement an internal DSL using an appropriate host language,
5. can evaluate alternative DSL designs and implementations to determine which are more appropriate according to the selected criteria.

Source Materials

Readings:

Journal and conference papers and book chapters related to domain-specific language design and implementation.

Web-hosted materials such as Martin Fowler's evolving book on Domain Specific Languages at http://martinfowler.com/dslwip/.

Textbook(s):

Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, and Bill Venners. Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-By-Step Guide, Artima, Inc., 2009. In addition to the bookstore, this book can be acquired from the bookstore or directly from http://www.artima.com.

(Tentative) Reference on the language Groovy, including its metaprogramming facilities: Venkat Subramaniam. Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2008.

Software:

Scala 2.7.3 (or later) distribution, available from http://www.scala-lang.org. This has been installed in the Adler Lab and can be installed on Turing.

Eclipse IDE users may want to use the Scala plugin for Eclipse.

Other tools (e.g., Groovy language, Eclipse Modeling Framework) as determined during the semester.

Course Topics

The prototype course offering covers issues related to the design, implementation, and use of both external and internal (or embedded) domain-specific languages (DSLs). A DSL is a simple language normally with a syntax and semantics focused on a specific application area, perhaps meant to be used by experts on that application area who are not necessarily expert programmers. An external DSL consists of a language separate from the DSL processor's host language. An internal DSL consists of the restricted usage of the host language itself to create the specialized language syntax and semantics

Domain-specific languages and language-oriented programming have been topics of considerable interest in recent years, both in industrial applications and in academic research. For example, the popular Ruby on Rails web framework consists of several "internal" DSLs in the language Ruby, and Microsoft supports DSL development and use as a part of its Visual Studio toolset. On the Java platform, JMock is an example of an internal DSL to support unit testing.

Most software engineers will use DSLs in the future as a part of their work. Many will be called upon to design them. This course seeks to address both needs, with an emphasis on the latter.

This is an experimental course offering, so the content will be elaborated as the semester progresses.

Professional Conduct

As a student in Engr 691-06, you are expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner according to the Honor Code of the School of Engineering, the Information Technology Appropriate Use Policy, the M Book, and any other relevant policies.

Limited Collaboration Policy. Unless otherwise indicated, any homework assignment or programming exercise given in this class will be an individual assignment. The work you submit is to reflect the knowledge, understanding, and skill that you have attained as an individual. However, the instructor does want to encourage the development of a community of scholars who are actively engaged in discussion of the ideas related to this course. With this in mind, you are allowed to discuss solutions of the homework and programming problems with other students if done so according to the following guidelines:

• You may discuss ideas for homework and programming assignments with your classmates. However, you cannot collaborate on writing the solution or the program code. That is, you can talk about the problems and ideas for solving them, but you cannot write things down with anyone else. You are, of course, prohibited from copying or seeing another student's written solution, and you are not allowed to show your work to anyone else. Similarly, you are not allowed to copy text or program code from a book or a page on the Web unless explicitly authorized to do so by the instructor.

• You should accept help with care. If you work too closely with another student, you might mislead yourself into believing that you understand the concepts and techniques better than you actually do. Don't forget that the instructor has office hours and can probably give you hints or suggestions to get you started.

• You should give help with care. Do not help anyone too much. When you have solved a problem, it is tempting to just tell other students how you solved it. Instead, try to allow them to come to the solution on their own. Maybe give them a hint to help them get "over a hump." Remember that helping someone too much will hurt them in the long term if they can't work through problems on the exams by themselves. So avoid the temptation to do so. If you can't help other students without giving away the whole solution, direct them to see the instructor (who may or may not have a way to "edge" them toward the solution).

• You are not obligated to help anyone. If you feel uncomfortable helping another student for any reason, please direct them to see the instructor.

• Except as described above, all work in this class is covered by the School of Engineering's Honor Code statement on plagiarism. It is plagiarism "to knowingly deceive, copy, paraphrase, or otherwise misrepresent your work in a manner inconsistent with professional conduct".

Grading

The grading scale for this class is A [90..100], B [80..90), C [70..80), D [60..70), and F [0..60).

Sixty percent of the semester grade will come from the exam average and forty percent from the homework assignment/project average.

Assignments and Projects

• All students are expected to study the relevant portions of the textbook and handouts in conjunction with our class discussions (i.e., before coming to class). Explicit reading assignments will not always be given. Ask if it is not clear what you should be doing.

• Several homework assignments are planned for the semester. Some of the assignments may be called "projects" and have more credit than the "regular" assignments.

• Unless otherwise stated in the assignment description, an assignment is to be carried out by each individual student without inappropriate collaboration with others. See the section on Professional Conduct.

• In preparing and submitting homework assignments make sure that:
  • your name, the course number or name, the assignment identifier, and individual exercises are clearly indicated in the content of the file or on the paper. (If it is a group assignment, give the group identifier and the names of all members.)
  • for any handwritten portions, you write legibly on only one side of the paper in a black or blue pen or dark pencil. Do NOT use red or green ink! Some of the assignments may require that materials be generated with a word processor and/or other tools.
  • your pages are stapled together in the upper left corner when viewed from the front.

• Several programs will be assigned during the semester. We will most likely use the multiparadigm programming language Scala, unless otherwise directed.

  For these exercises, you will need to submit appropriate design documentation, a listing of your program code, and appropriate printed output from your program testing. Make sure that you clearly label the assignment as described above. You will also be asked to submit your program source code in electronic form using Blackboard.

• As appropriate, there may be a few in-class assignments or quizzes that count toward the assignment/project portion of the grade.

• All students are expected to complete their homework assignments and projects by their due dates. If an assignment is submitted late, a penalty of 10 percent of that assignment's grade will be assessed for each day it is late. A homework paper will not be accepted after graded papers have been returned, after a solution has been distributed, or after the final examination.

Examinations

• There will be three examinations, including the final. The final examination is optional and can replace one of the other examinations.

• The examination portion of the semester grade will be calculated by averaging the two best examination grades.

• The two mid-term exams will be spaced more or less evenly through the semester.

• The final examination will be given during the final examination period. Please do not ask to take the final examination earlier than the time set for the entire class.

• Each exam will cover all topics studied to that point.

• Each exam may consist of a combination of in-class and take-home components.

• If you cannot take an examination at the scheduled time because of an illness or other special circumstances, please notify Prof. Cunningham in advance. Without advance notification, it may not be possible to give a make-up examination.

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