The primary objective of the unit project is to have the students explore
a programming language concept or problem in greater depth than is possible
with the standard lecture and machine problems.
Those of you who are signed up for 1 unit of credit for CS 421
will need to complete a unit project. You should expect about two MP's worth of work.
Pick two published research papers on programming language
topics, write a two to four page summary of each, and prepare a twenty minute
presentation of each. A good place to look would be past PLDI, ICFP, or POPL
publications. Also, you may find these papers useful.
Your summaries should address the following points:
- What problem the paper is trying to solve.
- Why this problem is important.
- How this paper addresses the problem.
- What you think about the paper and it's solution.
Each summary should be roughly 2-4 pages, however if you feel you need more space (or
less) you may use it. Please stay away from "summaries" that are nearly the length of the
original paper.
Your paper selections are due by July 9 2012. You
should submit your proposal electronically, in plain text form
contained in the body of an e-mail message (no attachments please).
Feel free to ask for an appointment to discuss the project proposal with me before the
proposals are due.
Final submission By default, paper
presentations will be on August 3 2012, at some arranged time.
A different date is possible (e.g., if you have a final exam that day), but presentations
must be finished before grades are due (i.e., sometime the week after finals). Summaries
are due by the earlier of August 2 2012 or the day before your presentation. For online
student, presentations can be submitted either as a recording (e.g., through powerpoint)
or by arranging a time and using Skype at your choice.