CSU660 Resources

These are the class notes files. In some places they are in pretty raw form, intended mainly for reference, code examples etc. They are not a substitute for taking notes in class, and they certainly cannot compensate for not coming in. Also, they are not guaranteed to cover all of the material that was presented in class.

• Mailing List Policies: Guidelines for writing better text (in mailing list posts and in general).
• Style Guide: A collection of guidelines for writing better code.
• Scheme Evaluation Rules: Formal rules for evaluating Scheme Using substitution.

• ae.scm — The AE interpreter
• wae.scm — The WAE interpreter
• flang.scm — The Flang interpreter
• flang-env.scm — The Flang interpreter, using environments instead of substitution
• church.scm — Making Schlac into a practical language (not an interpreter)
• church-alternative.scm — An alternative "Church" encoding: use lists to encode numbers
• toy.scm — The Toy language implementation
• sloth.scm — The Sloth language
• sloth-cached.scm — A call-by-need version of the Sloth language
• slug.scm — The Slug extension to Sloth

We will use the PLT Scheme environment extensively. DrScheme, the major component of PLT Scheme, will be used to develop code, debug, and submit homeworks. CCS computers have an updated version installed (available on both Unix and Windows). To use it on your own machine, get it from the PLT download server. Binary installers exist for all major operating systems, and the course work will be platform independent.

PLT Scheme has a system for distributing software bundles that will be used to get a course-specific plugin. This packages both specific functionality for each homework, and an integrated tool for homework submissions. Once you have PLT Scheme installed, download the plugin package, and use the “Setup PLT” application to install it. You can also use “Install .plt File” in the File menu, and enter the URL for the plugin.

Note: The handin server uses two ports for communication, one for the submission protocol, and one for the embedded (secure) web server. You need to work from a network that does not restrict these ports — for example, if you use Northeastern's ‘NUwave-guest’ network, then you will not be able to connect to the server. ‘NUwave’ (which requires you to authenticate through myNEU) does not have this restriction.

To set-up your account:

• Restart DrScheme (you should see a NEU icon on startup, and a “CSU660 Handin” in DrScheme's toolbar).
• Menu: File > Manage CSU660 Handin Account... (Your computer will establish a secure connection to the handin server at this point.)
• Make sure the “New User” tab is selected, and fill in the form:
  • ‘Username’ should be a lowercase alphanumeric string
  • ‘Full Name’ should be your full name (as you want to be known in class, not necessarily your ‘formal’ name: “Bob Smith” is better than “Robert William Junior of the New England Smiths”)
  • ‘Email’ should be your active email — this address will be used to contact you, so make sure you enter the email address you use most frequently (for example, enter your Gmail address if you use Gmail every day, even if you have a @ccs.neu.edu address).
  • ‘ID#’ is the last 4 digits of your NEU ID
  • Enter a password, twice. (Make sure you remember your password.)
• Click the “Add User” button — if everything went fine, you should see a “Success” message at the top of the dialog.
• If you had a mistake in the information for your account, open up the “Manage...” dialog, and choose the “Change Info” tab; enter your password in the “Old Password” field and re-fill any fields you want to change and/or a new password. (Once you fill your current password you can click the “Get Current Info” button to retrieve the current values.) If you forgot your password, mail us and we will re-set it.
• To submit a file, open it in DrScheme, and hit the “CSU660 Handin” button, choose the assignment you're submitting to, enter your password and hit the big Handin button.
• To verify the file you sent, you can click the “CSU660 Handin” button, choose the assignment, check the “Retrieve” checkbox, enter your password and click the big button. You can even use this method if you want to work on different machines: retrieve your file, edit, and submit to save.
• Each time DrScheme starts, the plugin will check for updates, and will ask you if it found that a newer version is available.
  The plugin will be updated frequently, follow the web page and the mailing list (see below) for announcements.

Additional software may be used later in the course.

There is a mailing list for this course at http://groups.google.com/group/csu660/ (send mail to csu660@googlegroups.com). It is hosted on Google Groups, but you don't need a Google account to use it. The mailing list is the main medium for discussions, questions, announcements etc. You should try to use if you have questions, so others can benefit from the discussion as well. Do not to post any assignment code on the mailing list. It is also a good idea to consult the Mailing List Policies handout for mailing list posts.

Many Scheme books etc are available on-line, a few good ones are:

• How to Design Programs: A good introductory book that uses Scheme. We use this book in the introductory part of the course. (You should be familiar with it.)
• Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation: This is the main textbook that we use.
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: A more advanced book.
• The Scheme Programming Language: Another advanced book.
• Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days: A quick crash course guide to Scheme (also available in DrScheme's Help Desk).
• How to Use Scheme: An on-line guide to practical hacking using PLT-Scheme. (Work in progress.)
• The Schematics Scheme Cookbook: A community effort to collect many useful recipes.