Advanced Programming [AP-19]

Code 301AA - 9 Credits

LECTURER

Tutor Andrea Corradini <andrea@di.unipi.it>

Matteo Busi <matteo.busi@di.unipi.it>

Timetable Monday 11-13, Room Fib A1
Tuesday 9-11, Room Fib N1
Thursday 16-18, Room Fib N1

Office hours Friday, 9-11.
Alternatively, to fix a date send an email to <andrea@di.unipi.it>

Course description

See: https://esami.unipi.it/esami2/programma.php?c=43423&aa=2019&cid=69&did=13

Announcements

[December 18, 2019] I published today Version 1.0 of the Second Programming Assignment, as well as the Syllabus of the course. .
[November 12, 2019] The First Programming Assignment is published.
[November 12, 2019] On Friday 15 from 9 to 11 there will be a meeting in Sala Riunioni Ovest of the Dipartimento di Informatica. It is dedicated to basics of functional programming: We will solve together some of the exercises on Haskell proposed yesterday.

Evaluation

The final grade is based on the evaluation of the programming assignments that will be proposed along the course, and on a final oral exam. The programming assignments have to be submitted at the very latest five working days before the oral exam. During the oral exam the lecturer may ask questions about any topic presented during the course as detailed in the Syllabus of the course.

Structure of the Oral Exam

The Oral Exam consists of three parts:

In the first part of the exam (~15 minutes) the student is invited to present one of the topics of the Syllabus, agreed upon with the lecturer. The presentation has to be oral, without the support of slides. Typically, a topic is identified by a number (from 1 to 9) and possibly by one or more letters (eg. 2.b [The JVM Instruction Set], or 8 [An overview of the Rust programming language]). Introductory topics (like 3.a, 5.a, 9.b) will not be accepted.
In the email proposing the dates for the oral exam (see below) the student has to propose at least two topics among those listed in the syllabus, in decreasing order of preference. The lecturer will make the best effort to assign the preferred topic, unless too many students have chosen the same one.
The second part of the oral exam is dedicated to a discussion about the progamming assignments.
In the third part the lecturer can ask questions about any topic listed in the syllabus.

Exam dates

Students can take the oral exam during the exam sessions, fixing a date with the lecturer. Each student should first register for one of the dates published on the portal https://esami.unipi.it/esami2/, which is only possible after filling the evaluation questionnaire. Next the student should send an email to the lecturer with subject "[AP-19] Oral Exam", proposing some dates for the oral exam (not earlier than five days after the date of the email) and proposing the topics for the first part of the oral exam, as explained above.

Scheduled Oral Exams

The oral exams are public. The student can choose the language (either English or Italian). Here are dates and locations of the next oral exams. Warning: changes are possible with short notice.

Programming assignments

First programming assignment
- General Instructions
- Assignment text
Second programming assignment
- General Instructions
- Assignment text (Version 1.2)
- Archive with auxiliary files

Prerequisites

In order to take full advantage of the course and of being able to pass the final exam in a reasonable time, students are required to have an undergraduate level knowledge of at least one object-oriented programming language (like Java, C++, C# or others) and of at least one functional programming language (like Haskell, OCaml, Scheme or others). Students having a weak background on such topics are strongly encouraged to review by themselves the core notions of Object-Oriented and Functional Programming at the beginning of the course, possibly exploiting the following online material:

For Functional Programming:

Mary Rose Cook, A practical introduction to functional programming
Compact intro to the functional programming paradigms. The examples in Python 2 can be executed on the online interpreter at https://repl.it/languages/python
An excellent tutorial on Haskell: http://learnyouahaskell.com. Suggested reading: Sections "Introduction" and "Starting Out".

For Object-Oriented programming:

Oracle Java tutorials Getting Started and Learning the Java Language
The following lessons of the second tutorial are suggested to cover prerequisites of the course: 1) Object-Oriented Programming Concepts, 2) Language Basics, 3) Classes and Objects (excluding Nested Classes and Enums), 4) Interface and Inheritance.

Course Schedule

N.	DATE	TOPIC	SLIDES	NOTES
1	Sep. 16, 2019	Presentation of the course	Slides: AP-2019-01.pdf AP-2019-02.pdf
2	Sep. 17, 2019	Languages and Abstract Machines Compilation and interpretation schemes	Slides: AP-2019-03.pdf	Suggested readings: Chapter 1 of Programming Languages: Principles and Paradigms by Maurizio Gabbrielli and Simone Martini
3	Sep. 19, 2019	Compilation and interpretation schemes (end), Runtime System (start). Entry test	Slides: AP-2019-03.pdf AP-2019-04.pdf, till slide 9.	Suggested readings: Chapter 7: Run-time Enviroments Section 7.1, 7.2 and 7.4.1-2 of "The Dragon Book" The entry test is intented to evaluate if students have the necessary prerequisites of the course, namely knowledge of concepts of Object-Oriented and Functional programming.
4	Sep. 23, 2019	The Java Virtual Machine, Runtime Data Areas, Multithreading, Dynamic Linking, ...	Slides: AP-2019-04.pdf, till slide 35.	Suggested readings: JVM Internals, by James D. Bloom http://blog.jamesdbloom.com/JVMInternals.html Chapters 1 and 2 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 13 Edition Reference documentation: The Java Language Specification, Java SE 13 Edition
5	Sep. 24, 2019	The JVM: linking and loading, verification, initialition and finalization. The JVM Instruction Set, start.	Slides: AP-2019-04.pdf, all. AP-2019-06.pdf, till slide 5.	Suggested readings: Finalization of Class Instances, Section 12.6 of The Java Language Specification, Java SE 13 Edition
6	Sep. 26, 2019	The JVM Instruction Set	Slides: AP-2019-06.pdf, all.	Suggested readings: Section 2.11 and Chapter 3 of The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 13 Edition Java Code To Byte Code - Part One, by James D. Bloom, http://blog.jamesdbloom.com/JavaCodeToByteCode_PartOne.html
7	Sep. 30, 2019 Room A1	Exercises: Inspecting the JVM Students are invited to bring their own laptop.	Instructions: exercises_1.html Files: javaSources_1.zip	Software needed for the exercises: Java SE Development Kit (JDK), version >= 8. Suggested version: JDK 11 Apache NetBeans 11.0. VisualVM. Please check that the downloaded software works correctly on you computer.
8	Oct. 1, 2019	Software Components: an introduction	Slides: AP-2019-07.pdf	Suggested readings: Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of [COMP], Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented Programming. C. Szyperski, D. Gruntz, S. Murer, Addison-Wesley, 2002.
9	Oct. 3, 2019	Software Components: the Sun approach, JavaBeans	Slides: AP-2019-08.pdf	Suggested readings: Chapter 14 of [COMP], sections 14.1 and 14.3. The JavaBeans API Specification, sections 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8.
10	Oct. 7, 2019	Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) Reflection in programming languages	Slides: AP-2019-08-EE.pdf AP-2019-09.pdf, till page 6.	Suggested readings: Chapter 14 of [COMP], section 14.5
11	Oct. 8, 2019	Reflection in Java Annotations in Java	Slides: AP-2019-09.pdf, till page 48	Suggested readings: The Java Tutorial on Reflection API, excluding Arrays and Enumerated Types. The Java Tutorial on Annotations.
12	Oct. 10, 2019	Annotations in Java Software Components: the Microsoft way	Slides: AP-2019-09.pdf, all. AP-2019-10.pdf, till page 28.	Suggested readings: The Java Tutorial on Annotations. Chapter 15 of [COMP], sections 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4.
13	Oct. 14, 2019 Room A1	Exercises: JavaBeans and Reflection in Java Students are invited to bring their own laptop. To optimize the lab activity, students may read the Oracle JavaBeans Tutorial	Instructions: exercises_2.html Files: javaSources_2.zip	Software needed for the exercises: Java SE Development Kit (JDK), version >= 8. Suggested version: JDK 11 Apache NetBeans 11.0. Please check that the downloaded software works correctly on your computer.
14	Oct. 15, 2019	The .NET Framework, Delegates in C#	Slides: AP-2019-10.pdf, all.	Suggested readings: Chapter 15 of [COMP], sections 15.11 and 15.12. Short tutorial on Delegates in C#
15	Oct. 17, 2019	Frameworks and Inversion of Control	Slides: AP-2019-11-Frameworks-IoC.pdf, till page 35.	Suggested readings: Inversion of Control, by Martin Flowers https://martinfowler.com/bliki/InversionOfControl.html Inversion of Control Containers and the Dependency Injection pattern, by Martin Flowers https://martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html
16	Oct. 21, 2019 Room A1	Exercises: JavaBeans and Reflection in Java Students are invited to bring their own laptop. To optimize the lab activity, students may read the Oracle JavaBeans Tutorial	We propose to continue the exercises of the last time, possibily addressing also the two new exercises added to the end. Instructions: exercises_3.html	Software needed for the exercises: Java SE Development Kit (JDK), version >= 8. Suggested version: JDK 11 Apache NetBeans 11.0. Please check that the downloaded software works correctly on your computer.
17	Oct. 22, 2019	On Designing Software Frameworks	Slides: AP-2019-11-Frameworks-IoC.pdf, all AP-2019-12-DesigningFrameworks.pdf, till page 21.	Suggested readings: Using classic problems to teach Java framework design, by H.C. Cunningham, Yi Liu and C. Zhang. Why I hate Frameworks? by Joel Spolsky
18	Oct. 24, 2019	On Designing Software Frameworks (cont.) Polymorphism: A classification Overloading & Coercion Inclusion polymorphism & Overriding Explicit parametric polymorphism: Templates in C++.	Slides: AP-2019-12-DesigningFrameworks.pdf, all AP-2019-13-Polymorphism.pdf (Polymorphism) AP-2019-14-Cpp-Templates.pdf (C++ templates), till page 7	Suggested readings: Overloads and Templates in C++ http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/functions2/ Inclusion polymorphism in C++ http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/polymorphism/
19	Oct. 28, 2019	Universal Parametric Polymorphism: C++ Templates and Java Generics C++ templates Java Generics Bounded type parameters Generics and inheritance: invariance, covariance and contravariance	Slides: AP-2019-14-Cpp-Templates.pdf (C++ templates) all AP-2019-15-JavaGenerics.pdf (Java Generics), till page 19.	Suggested readings: Templates in C++ http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/oldtutorial/templates/ Java Generics https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/index.html Covariance and Contravariance in C# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/covariance-contravariance/
20	Oct. 29, 2019	Java Generics: Type erasure, Wilcards The Standard Template Library for C++	Slides: AP-2019-15-JavaGenerics.pdf (Java Generics), all. AP-2019-16-STL.pdf (STL), till page 18.	Suggested readings: The Standard Template Library Tutorial, by Johannes Weidl: Page 4, 12 and parts of Chapter 4 "Learning STL"
21	Oct. 31, 2019	The Standard Template Library for C++ Introduction to Functional Programming Historical origins Main concepts Language families: LISP, ML, Haskell	Slides: AP-2019-16-STL.pdf (STL), all. AP-2019-17-Func.pdf, till page 12.	Suggested readings: Section 10.1 and 10.2 of Chapter 10 of Programming Language Pragmatics, by Michael Scott, 3rd edition. Link to 4th edition: Programming Language Pragmatics An excellent tutorial on Haskell: http://learnyouahaskell.com: Sections "Introduction" and "Starting Out". Students are invited to install the Glasgow Haskell Compiler and Interpreter (GHCI) downloadable from https://www.haskell.org/platform/
22	Nov. 4, 2019	Core concepts on Haskell, lazy evaluation The lambda-calculus: syntax and beta-reduction Church Booleans, Pairs and Numerals	Slides: AP-2019-17-Func.pdf, all. AP-2019-18-Lambda.pdf, till page 10.	Suggested readings: Pages 97-108 of Introduction to Haskell, by John C. Mitchell , Chapter 5 of online, new version of Concepts in Programming Languages Introduction to Lambda Calculus http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/WS03/alpi/lambda.pdf
23	Nov. 5, 2019	More on lambda-calculus and on Haskell Arithmetics on Church Numerals Fixpoint operator and recursion Evaluation orders Call by need in Haskell List comprehension Algebraic Data Types Higher-order functions and combinators	Slides: AP-2019-18-Lambda.pdf, till page 16 AP-2019-19-MoreFunc.pdf, till page 16	Suggested readings: Recursion in Haskell Higher Order functions in Haskell
	Nov. 7, 2019	There will be no lesson on Thursday, November 7
24	Nov. 11, 2019 Aula A1	Exercises on Functional Programming in Haskell. Students are invited to bring their own laptop.	Instructions: exercises_4.html	If you are new to functional programming, or if you want to refresh the essence of it, I strongly recommend reading the blog Mary Rose Cook, A practical introduction to functional programming, if you did not yet. Students are invited to install the Glasgow Haskell Compiler and Interpreter (GHCI) downloadable from https://www.haskell.org/platform/ An excellent tutorial on Haskell: http://learnyouahaskell.com
25	Nov. 12, 2019	On efficiency in functional languages Tail recursion optimization Type classes in Haskell	Slides: AP-2019-19-MoreFunc.pdf, pages 18-25 AP-2019-20-TypeClasses.pdf, till page 18.	Suggested readings: Optional: Comparing foldr, foldl and foldl′ Type Classes in Haskell, by John C. Mitchell , Chapter 7 of online, new version of Concepts in Programming Languages
	Nov. 12, 2019	Presentation of programming assigments on NetBeans, JavaBeans and Reflection in Java.	First programming assignment [Suggested deadline: November 30, 2019] General Instructions Proposed Exercises crypto.zip archive for Exercise 1. ~~SampleOutput.pdf for Exercise 1.1.~~ SampleOutput-corrected.pdf for Exercise 1.1.
26	Nov. 14, 2019	Type classes, Constructor Classes and Monads in Haskell	Slides: AP-2019-20-TypeClasses.pdf, all. AP-2019-21-Monads.pdf, till page 21.	Suggested readings: A very short tutorial on Monads http://www.idryman.org/blog/2014/01/23/yet-another-monad-tutorial/ https://wiki.haskell.org/Monads_as_containers https://wiki.haskell.org/Monads_as_computation
	Nov. 18, 2019		Lesson canceled because of weather alert.
27	Nov. 19, 2019	The IO Monad in Haskell Lambda expressions in Java 8	Slides: AP-2019-21-Monads.pdf, all AP-2019-22-JavaLambdas.pdf, till page 6.	Suggested readings: Haskell IO Inside https://wiki.haskell.org/IO_inside Lambda Expressions in Java http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/lambdaexpressions.html
28	Thursday Nov. 21, 2019	Lambda expressions in Java 8 The Stream API in Java 8	Slides: AP-2019-22-JavaLambdas.pdf, all AP-2019-23-JavaStreams.pdf	Suggested readings: Aggregate Operations in Java https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/streams/index.html Optional: Monadic Java, by Mario Fusco Optional: From Lambdas to Bytecode, by Brian Goetz 2011_Goetz_Lambda.pdf
29	Friday Nov. 22, 2019 - 16-18 Aula A1	Exercises on Functional Programming and Type Classes in Haskell. Students are invited to bring their own laptop.	Old exercises: exercises_4.html New exercises: exercises_5.html	An excellent tutorial on Haskell: http://learnyouahaskell.com
30	Monday Nov. 25, 2019 Aula A1	Exercises on the Stream API and on partial functions in Java 8.	Instructions: exercises_6.html Auxiliary file: people.csv	Suggested readings: Use of Optional in Java, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/java8-optional-2175753.html
31	Tuesday Nov. 26, 2019	The RUST programming language	AP-2019-24-Rust.pdf	Suggested readings: Introduction to Rust, slides by Haozhong Zhang Reference documentation of Rust: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/foreword.html
32	Thursday Nov. 28, 2019	Scripting Languages	Slides: AP-2019-25-Scripting.pdf	Suggested readings: Scripting Languages by Michael Scott, Ch. 13 of Programming Language Pragmatics, 3rd edition. Link to 4th edition: Programming Language Pragmatics
33	Monday Dec. 2, 2019	Exercises on the Stream API and on partial functions in Java 8 (cont.).	Instructions: exercises_6.html Auxiliary file: people.csv	Suggested readings: Use of Optional in Java, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/java8-optional-2175753.html
34	Tuesday Dec. 3, 2019	Introduction to Python Basic and Sequence Datatypes Dictionaries Control Structures List Comprehension Function definition	Slides: AP-2019-26-Python.pdf	Suggested readings: The Python Tutorial, http://docs.python.org/tutorial/ PEP 8- Style Guide for Python Code, http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008
	Thursday Dec. 5, 2019	Lesson canceled		Students are strongly encouraged to take part to the event Theses presentation Event for StudEntS, see http://theses.di.unipi.it/
35	Monday Dec. 9, 2019	Invited Lecture by Mario Fusco	Comparing different concurrency models on the JVM	Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/mariofusco/comparing-different-concurrency-models-on-the-jvm
36	Tuesday Dec. 10, 2019	More about Python Function definition Positional and keyword arguments Functions as objects Higher-order functions Combinators vs. list comprehension Decorators Namespaces and Scopes Object Oriented programming in Python	Slides: AP-2019-27-Python-OOP.pdf, till page 31.	The Python Tutorial: Defining Functions, https://docs.python.org/3.7/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions The Python Tutorial: Classes, https://docs.python.org/3.7/tutorial/classes.html Primer on Python Decorators, https://realpython.com/blog/python/primer-on-python-decorators/
37	Thursday Dec. 12, 2019	Object Oriented Programming in Python (cont′d) Inheritance Iterators and generators Garbage collection in CPython The Global Interpreter Lock Miscellaneous criticisms to Python Browsing the Python documentation Builtin functions Python Standard Library Examples of scripts in Python Style guidelines for writing scripts	AP-2019-27-Python-OOP.pdf, all. AP-2019-28-GIL-etAl.pdf	Inside the Python GIL, by David Beazley: InsideThePythonGIL.pdf Python for system administrators, https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-python/index.html
38	Friday Dec. 13, 2019 Aula A1 - 16-18	Exercises on Python Students are invited to bring their own laptop.	Instructions: exercises_6.html Auxiliary files: anagram.txt, people.csv
39	Monday Dec. 16, 2019	Exercises on Python Students are invited to bring their own laptop.	Instructions: exercises_6.html Auxiliary files: anagram.txt, people.csv
	Dec. 18, 2019		Second programming assignment [Suggested deadline: January 6, 2020] General Instructions Proposed Exercises (Version 1.1) Archive with auxiliary files

LECTURER Tutor	Andrea Corradini `<andrea@di.unipi.it>` Matteo Busi `<matteo.busi@di.unipi.it>`
Timetable	Monday 11-13, Room Fib A1 Tuesday 9-11, Room Fib N1 Thursday 16-18, Room Fib N1
Office hours	Friday, 9-11. Alternatively, to fix a date send an email to `<andrea@di.unipi.it>`