Course syllabus

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• Lab 1 • Lab 2• Lab 3• Lab 4 • Fire • Slack • Class meetings

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TDA452 / DIT143 Functional programming lp2 HT22 (7.5 hp)

The course is offered by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Contact details

Teaching Assistants: 

Course Representatives

Course purpose

In this course, you will learn about functional programming through the Haskell programming language. Concrete topics encountered in the course include:

  • functions as first-class values
  • data structures (lists, tuples, user-defined data types)
  • recursion and recursive data types
  • polymorphism and type classes
  • pure functions vs input-output
  • modules and abstract data types
  • testing functional programs
  • lazy evaluations and infinite objects
  • introduction to monads

Schedule

Lectures are pre-recorded. The scheduled meeting times are referred to as Class meetings. 

Week 1: Intro meeting on Monday,  regular class meeting on Tuesday and Thursday at 15.15.
After week 1, class meetings are usually on Mondays (13.15) and Thursdays (10.00).

In addition, we will schedule lab supervision hours where you can chat over Slack, and invite course assistants to your zoom rooms for more specific discussions of your lab solution.  Head over to #lab-supervision on Slack:

  • In week 1 Matti will be available on Wednesday from 16-18 to help (mainly) with technical support.   
  • From week 2 onward:  15:15-17 on Mondays and Wednesdays

Course literature

There is no mandatory literature for this course.  The following links are a sample of potentially useful resources: 

  • Slides and other material from the pre-recorded lectures
  • Video lectures
  • Book: Programming in Haskell by Graham Hutton
    • 2nd edition of a compact and well-written Haskell book that is a good fit for this course. 
  • Book: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! (Links to an external site.) (freely available online).
  • Real World Haskell by Bryan O'Sullivan, Don Stewart, and John Goerzen (freely available online).
    • This is more advanced and more oriented toward practical Haskell programming. A good book to have on the shelf if you continue with Haskell. This is the course book for the Advanced Functional Programming course.

Course design

Teaching is through pre-recorded lectures and self-study exercises, supported by online meetings related to the most recent lecture.  Class meetings are given two times a week. 

There are four programming labs which are done in groups of two.  Some of the labs are divided into two parts, so there are hand-in deadlines most study weeks.  The final lab is a choice between an own mini project or a more conventional lab.   Conventional labs are graded electronically; if a lab is not passed then students get multiple chances to resubmit until the given final deadline.  Those who choose to do a project for the final lab will give an oral presentation of the lab (usually over zoom). 

The lab submission is through the Fire system (see links from the labs).

Changes made since the last occasion

No major changes. The content and labs will be very similar to 2021; we will have physical meetings for quizzes, questions and small exercises.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

- write small to medium-sized functional programs for a variety of applications;
- exploit a variety of programming techniques typical in functional programming, such as: use of recursion, modelling with recursive datatypes, abstraction and reuse with the help of higher order functions and monads;
- appreciate the strengths and possible weaknesses of the functional programming paradigm.

Link to the syllabus Chalmers.
Link to the syllabus GU.

Examination form

The examination of the course has two parts:

  • Weekly assignments ("labs"), done in groups of 2 students.
  • An individual written exam after the end of the course (in January). The re-exam is given in April.
    Exam dates, once decided, are given on the student portal  (search: TDA452 - the exam time is the same for GU students) https://www.student.chalmers.se/sp/examdates_list
  • Exam times below give an indication only. For the definitive list please see the link above.
Course code Examination date Begins Location Length First day
for sign-up		 Last day
for sign-up
TDA452 10 Jan 2023 8.30 am Johanneberg 4 hours 10 Oct 2022 21 Dec 2022
TDA452 04 Apr 2023 2.00 pm Johanneberg 4 hours 20 Feb 2023 19 Mar 2023

 

  • Remember that you have to sign up for the exam ahead of time!

To pass the course it is necessary to pass all assignments and the written exam. Your final grade is determined by your grade on the written exam only.

Written Exam

The grades awarded on the exam are 3, 4, 5 for Chalmers students, and G, VG for GU students. (G on the GU side corresponds to 3 or 4 on the Chalmers side; VG corresponds to a 5.)

A sample of old exams is available. Note that the exam includes a list of useful functions.  The only other permitted materials are a dictionary. 

Lab Assignments

In the table below you will find links to lab assignments that have to be handed in.

  • Each assignment has a submission deadline at which you must submit your solutions. Your first submission is expected to be a serious attempt to complete the lab.
  • If your submission does not pass (it's incorrect or simply badly coded) then you must resubmit. You can resubmit several times if need be, until the cutoff deadline.
  • The cutoff deadline is absolute: it is the last possible date to hand in your solutions. If your solutions are not passed you get no further chances this term.
  • Lab 4 here refers to the project option. This is graded orally (over zoom). For 2022 the grading will be on Friday 16 December. 

 

Lab Part Submission deadline Cutoff deadline
Lab 1 Wednesday, Week 1
(2022-11-02)		 Friday, Week 2
(2022-11-11)
Lab 2 A Wednesday, Week 2
(2022-11-09)		 Friday, Week 4
(2022-11-25)
B Wednesday, Week 3
(2022-11-16)
Lab 3 A Wednesday, Week 4
(2022-11-23)		 Friday, Week 6
(2022-12-09)
B Wednesday, Week 5
(2022-11-30)
Lab 4 Proposal Monday, Week 6
(2022-12-05)		 Thursday, Week 6
(2022-12-08)
Project/Standard Lab Wednesday, Week 7
(2022-12-14)

Monday

2023-01-10

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due