Class 13: Discussion of Exam 1

Held Monday, February 22

Summary

• A small introduction to reading the Scheme semantics.
• Reading: the Scheme report

Contents

Handouts

• Notes on Exam 1 (electronic)
• John Backus, ``Can Programming be liberated from the Von Neumann style? A functional style and its algebra of programs''

Notes

• There's a slight change to the schedule. Next week, we'll be discussing FP, rather than Haskell. I'll update the syllabus as soon as I have time.
• Exam 1 returned.
• Today at noon, there was a meeting in 2413 to discuss summer research opportunities in computer science at Grinnell. There are also web pages describing
  • Summer opportunities in CS
  • Summer research with SamR
• On Tuesday at 12:15 in 2413, there is an informational meeting on an MBA Program with specialization in information and software systems. It seems that students will receive a $20,000 fellowship plus tuition.
• On Tuesday at 4:??, there is a meeting to discuss summer research opportunities in mathematics at Grinnell.
• Please read the semantics of Scheme through the third meaning function (the one for function application).
  • Make sure that you read thoroughly enough that you can discuss it intelligently. You will also need to look up some of the helper functions.
  • That is, read column 2 of p. 40 (starting with ``7.2. Formal Semantics''), column 1 of p. 41, and the first two equations in column 2.
  • Yes, it really will take you two hours to read it thoroughly.
  • Yes, you should be prepared for a quiz.

Exam 1

• See the notes on exam 1.
• The average was 83. The median was 92.
• Those of you who did less well than you wanted to can still use the final as a makeup.
• Given past exams, I had expected the need for more discussion. However, you folks did pretty well.

The Semantics of SIMPLE

• See the previous class outline.

History

• Created Tuesday, January 19, 1999 as a blank outline.
• Filled in the details on Monday, February 22, 1999.