CS2013-final-report

Programming Languages and Techniques I, University of
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA
Stephanie Weirich, Steve Zdancewic, and Benjamin C. Pierce
cis120@cis.upenn.edu
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~cis120/
Knowledge Areas that contain topics and learning outcomes covered in the course
Knowledge Area
Total Hours of Coverage
Programming Languages (PL) 24
Software Development Fundamentals (SDF) 13
Algorithms and Complexity (AL) 2
Discrete Structures (DS) 1
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) 1
Where does the course fit in your curriculum
Prerequisites: This is a second course though students with prior programming experience or an AP course often
do not take the first course (CIS110, which covers fundamentals of computer programming in Java, with emphasis
on applications in science and engineering).
Following courses: Discrete Math for CS students (CIS 160), Data structures (CIS 121), Intro to Computer
Systems (CIS 240)
Requirements: The course is required for CIS and related majors, but optional for all other students. Enrollment is
currently 160 students per term.
Student level: Most students are in their first or second year, but there are some non-CS exceptions
What is covered in the course
• Programming Design and Testing
• Persistent Data Structures & Functional programming
• Trees & Recursion
• Mutable Data Structures (queues, arrays)
• First-class computation (objects, closures)
• Types, generics, subtyping
• Abstract types and encapsulation
• Functional, OO, and Event-driven programming
What is the format of the course
Three 50-minute lectures per week + one 50 minute lab section (lead by undergraduate TAs)
How are students assessed
Two midterm exams, plus a final exam
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