On this page:
1 Prerequisites and Description
2 Topics
3 Grading
4 Lecture Videos
5 Assignments
6 Quizzes & surveys
7 Midterms
8 Project
9 Computing Resources
10 Outside-of-class communication with course staff
11 Excused Absences
12 Students with Disabilities
13 University of Maryland Policies for Undergraduate Students
14 Academic Integrity
15 Course Evaluations
16 Right to Change Information
17 Course Materials
7.4

Syllabus

    1 Prerequisites and Description

    2 Topics

    3 Grading

    4 Lecture Videos

    5 Assignments

    6 Quizzes & surveys

    7 Midterms

    8 Project

    9 Computing Resources

    10 Outside-of-class communication with course staff

    11 Excused Absences

    12 Students with Disabilities

    13 University of Maryland Policies for Undergraduate Students

    14 Academic Integrity

    15 Course Evaluations

    16 Right to Change Information

    17 Course Materials

1 Prerequisites and Description

Prerequisite: a grade of C or better in CMSC330; and permission of department; or CMSC graduate student.

Credits: 3.

CMSC 430 is an introduction to compilers. Its major goal is to arm students with the ability to design, implement, and extend a programming language. Throughout the course, students will design and implement several related high-level programming languages, building compilers that target the x86 CPU architecture.

The course assumes familiarity with a functional programming such as OCaml from CMSC 330, and, to a lesser extent, imperative programming in C and Assembly as covered in CMSC 216.

2 Topics

The following list of lecture topics will vary according to the pace of the course:

3 Grading

Grades will be maintained on ELMS.

You are responsible for all material discussed in lecture and posted on the class web page, including announcements, deadlines, policies, etc.

Your final course grade will be determined according to the following percentages:

Component

 

Percentage

Assignments

 

45%

Quizzes & surveys

 

15%

Midterms (2)

 

20%

Final project

 

20%

4 Lecture Videos

Screen and audio-capture of every lecture will made available via Panopto on ELMS. Videos should be released within 2 hours of each lecture. If a video does not appear, please let the instructor know.

5 Assignments

There will be weekly programming Assignments, due each Tuesday at 11:59pm EST unless otherwise noted.

Assignments will be submitted through Github Classroom.

6 Quizzes & surveys

There will be many quizzes and surveys. Some will be done online, some will be on paper. Some will be done with clickers. Quizzes are graded on a binary scale (either full or no credit). Completed surveys receive full credit. Instructors reserve the right to reject survey responses that are not considered thoughtful.

Clicker quizzes will be given in-class during lectures. You have to bring your clicker to all lectures. You can register your clicker on ELMS.

We will drop the 20% lowest clicker quizzes to compensate for your absence or other clicker related problems.

7 Midterms

There will be two Midterms, which will be take-home exams. Exams will be distributed at least 48 hours before the due date of the midterm.

8 Project

There will be a course Project that will be assessed during the final exam period for the course:

The project description will be distributed approximately 3 weeks before the due date.

9 Computing Resources

Programming projects can be developed on the GRACE cluster.

If you have access to another system you are welcome to do your development there instead, but all project submissions must work correctly on the GRACE cluster, and your projects will be graded solely based on their results on the cluster. Because language and library versions may vary with the installation, in unfortunate circumstances a program might work perfectly on your system but not work at all on the cluster. Thus we strongly recommend that if you develop any project on another system, you should complete it several days early to have time to address any compatibility problems.

10 Outside-of-class communication with course staff

Course staff will interact with students outside of class in primarily three ways: in-person during office hours, electronically via the Piazza web forum and course web page, and electronically via e-mail. The large majority of communication should employ the first two methods, reserving e-mail for personal (presumably rare) circumstances.

Personalized assistance, e.g., with assignments or exam preparation, will be provided during office hours. Office hours for the instructional staff will be posted on the course web page.

Additional assistance will provided via the ELMS class discussion forum. You may use this forum to ask general questions of interest to the class as a whole, e.g., administrative issues or problem set clarification questions. The course staff will monitor ELMS on a daily basis, but do not expect immediate answers to questions. Please do not post publicly any information that would violate the university academic integrity policy (e.g., problem set code).

ELMS allows students to send private questions that are only visible to instructors. Please use this feature if you wish to ask specific questions concerning your assignment solutions.

Personal e-mail to instructors or TAs should be reserved for issues that cannot be handled by the above methods.

Important announcements will be made in class or on the class web page, and via ELMS.

11 Excused Absences

Any student who needs to be excused for an absence from a single lecture or lab due to illness shall:

Missing an exam for reasons such as illness, religious observance, participation in required university activities, or family or personal emergency (such as a serious automobile accident or close relative’s funeral) will be excused so long as the absence is requested in writing at least 2 days in advance and the student includes documentation that shows the absence qualifies as excused; a self-signed note is not sufficient as exams are Major Scheduled Grading Events. For this class, such events are the final project assessment and midterms, which will be due on the following dates:

The final exam is scheduled according to the University Registrar.

For medical absences, you must furnish documentation from the health care professional who treated you. This documentation must verify dates of treatment and indicate the timeframe that the student was unable to meet academic responsibilities. In addition, it must contain the name and phone number of the medical service provider to be used if verification is needed. No diagnostic information will ever be requested. Note that simply being seen by a health care professional does not constitute an excused absence; it must be clear that you were unable to perform your academic duties.

It is the University’s policy to provide accommodations for students with religious observances conflicting with exams, but it is the your responsibility to inform the instructor in advance of intended religious observances. If you have a conflict with one of the planned exams, you must inform the instructor prior to the end of the first two weeks of the class.

For missed exams due to excused absences, the instructor will arrange a makeup exam. If you might miss an exam for any other reason other than those above, you must contact the instructor in advance to discuss the circumstances. We are not obligated to offer a substitute assignment or to provide a makeup exam unless the failure to perform was due to an excused absence.

The policies for excused absences do not apply to project assignments. Projects will be assigned with sufficient time to be completed by students who have a reasonable understanding of the necessary material and begin promptly. In cases of extremely serious documented illness of lengthy duration or other protracted, severe emergency situations, the instructor may consider extensions on project assignments, depending upon the specific circumstances.

Besides the policies in this syllabus, the University’s policies apply during the semester. Various policies that may be relevant appear in the Undergraduate Catalog.

If you experience difficulty during the semester keeping up with the academic demands of your courses, you may consider contacting the Learning Assistance Service in 2201 Shoemaker Building at (301) 314-7693. Their educational counselors can help with time management issues, reading, note-taking, and exam preparation skills.

12 Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities who have been certified by Disability Support Services as needing any type of special accommodations should see the instructor as soon as possible during the schedule adjustment period (the first two weeks of class). Please provide DSS’s letter of accommodation to the instructor at that time.

All arrangements for exam accommodations as a result of disability must be made and arranged with the instructor at least three business days prior to the exam date; later requests (including retroactive ones) will be refused.

13 University of Maryland Policies for Undergraduate Students

Please read the university’s guide on Course Related Policies, which provides you with resources and information relevant to your participation in a UMD course.

14 Academic Integrity

The Campus Senate has adopted a policy asking students to include the following statement on each examination or assignment in every course: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (or assignment)." Consequently, you will be requested to include this pledge on each exam and assignment. Please also carefully read the Office of Information Technology’s policy regarding acceptable use of computer accounts.

Assignments and projects are to be completed individually, therefore cooperation with others or use of unauthorized materials on assignment or projects is a violation of the University’s Code of Academic Integrity. Both the person receiving assistance and the person providing assistance are in violation of the honor code. Any evidence of this, or of unacceptable use of computer accounts, use of unauthorized materials or cooperation on exams or quizzes, or other possible violations of the Honor Code, will be submitted to the Student Honor Council, which could result in an XF for the course, suspension, or expulsion.

Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity may include, but are not limited to:

If you have any question about a particular situation or source then consult with the instructors in advance. Should you have difficulty with a programming assignment you should see the instructional staff in office hours, and not solicit help from anyone else in violation of these rules.

It is the responsibility, under the honor policy, of anyone who suspects an incident of academic dishonesty has occurred to report it to their instructor, or directly to the Honor Council.

Every semester the department has discovered a number of students attempting to cheat on assignments, in violation of academic integrity requirements. Students’ academic careers have been significantly affected by a decision to cheat. Think about whether you want to join them before contemplating cheating, or before helping a friend to cheat.

You may not share, discuss, or compare assignment solutions even after they have been graded since later assignments may build upon earlier solutions.

15 Course Evaluations

If you have a suggestion for improving this class, don’t hesitate to tell the instructor or TAs during the semester. At the end of the semester, please don’t forget to provide your feedback using the campus-wide CourseEvalUM system. Your comments will help make this class better.

16 Right to Change Information

Although every effort has been made to be complete and accurate, unforeseen circumstances arising during the semester could require the adjustment of any material given here. Consequently, given due notice to students, the instructors reserve the right to change any information on this syllabus or in other course materials. Such changes will be announced and prominently displayed at the top of the syllabus.

17 Course Materials

Portions of the course materials are based on material developed by Ranjit Jhala and Joe Gibbs Politz.