CS374: Principles of Programming Languages

Bill Mongan

Welcome to CS374!

About Me

• Born in Delaware County, PA
• Married in Carmel, CA in 2015

About Me

• Upper Darby High School Class of 2000
• Drexel University Class of 2005
• Completed my PhD at Drexel in 2018

About Me

• I am a private pilot who loves to travel

About Me

• We love animals and have two cats
• … plus some occasional visitors!

About Me

• I use computing (specifically Machine Learning and Signal Processing)…
  • To improve public health
  • To leverage technology to mitigate side-effects and to improve access to care

What this Course is About

int main(void) {
    int y = 5;
    int y2 = y * y;
    printf("%d squared is %d.", y, y2);
}

• What does this program do? How did you know what a “statement” is?

What this Course is About

(define square
  (lambda(n)
    (* n n)
  )
)
      
(square 5)

• How about now?

What this Course is About

movl	$5, -4(%rbp)
movl	-4(%rbp), %eax
imull	%eax, %eax
movl	%eax, -8(%rbp)
movl	$0, %eax

• What do you think this does?

What this Course is About

li	$2,5
sw	$2,0($fp)
lw	$2,0($fp)
mul	$2,$2,$2
sw	$2,4($fp)

• How about this? What’s different about this version?

What this Course is About

00100000000010100000000000000101 # li t2 5
10101111110010100000000000000000 # sw
10001111110010100000000000000000 # lw
00000001010010100000000000011000 # mult
00000000000000000101000000010010 # mflo t2
10101111110010100000000000000100 # sw 4(fp)

What this Course is About

• The evolution of programming languages from assembly language to intermediate languages to our favorite high level languages

• The provenance of modern conveniences
  • Conditionals and Loops

• Programming paradigms

• Algorithms that read, translate, and execute code

Class Logistics and Culture

• Class website and syllabus: http://www.billmongan.com/Ursinus-CS374
• Challenging but fun!
• Communicate with me and the TA’s often - we enjoy it.
• If you know stuff, use it for good to help others!