1. Programming language design
   * Functional/declarative languages: Scheme
   * Higher-order functions, continuations, call/cc (Scheme, Ruby)
   * Other object-oriented languages (Smalltalk, Scala, Ruby, Python, ¿)
   


2. Static checking
   * Type systems, type inference (Standard ML, C# 3.0)
   * Haskell¿s type classes, generic programming, domain-specific languages
   * Logic, design by contract, extended static checking (Jackson¿s Alloy, JML, Spec#, ESC/Java, ...)
   


3. Real and abstract machines
   * Abstract syntax (programs as trees)
   * Bytecode (programs as instruction sequences), stack machines
   * Automatic memory management, garbage collection
   * The C programming language and register-based machines
   


4. Generative programming
   * Programs as data objects
   * Generative programming, runtime code generation
   * Models, model-driven development (UML-to-code)
   * Wellformedness (of code and models)
   

The course period is 16 weeks half time (15 ects). The course will consist of

• four block of three weeks each, covering the above four themes, with weekly lectures and exercises; and


• a substantial four-week group project within one of the themes, resulting in a project report.

1. Programming language design
   * Implement a program transformer or similar using Scheme
   * Implement Icon or another language with backtracking using continuations
   * Implement a spreadsheet in a browser using JavaScript
   


2. Static checking
   * Type systems, type inference (Standard ML, C# 3.0)
   * Specify, implement and verify a substantial program library (e.g. collection classes) using Spec#, JML, UML/OCL (+ tools), or Alloy
   


3. Real and abstract machines
   * Implement an abstract machine in Java or C
   * Implement a garbage collector in Java or C
   * Implement a compiler that generates real (or abstract) machine language
   


4. Generative programming
   * Implement a simple aspect compiler in Java (too complex?)
   * Transform statechart models to Java code or bytecode or C
   * Check consistency of model (multiplicity of associations, OCL, ¿)
   

The weekly exercises must be handed in, and at least 10 of the 12 exercises must be approved to pass the course. The project report must be presented in an oral exam, where questions may be asked in all themes of the course. A single grade is given, based on the project and the oral exam.