or: **What Philosophers and Linguists Can Learn From Theoretical Computer Science But Didn't Know To Ask**
-This course will be co-taught by [Chris Barker](http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cb125/) and [Jim Pryor](http://www.jimpryor.net/). Linguistics calls it "G61.3340-002" and Philosophy calls it "G83.2296-001."
-
+This course is co-taught by [Chris Barker](http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cb125/) and [Jim Pryor](http://www.jimpryor.net/). Linguistics calls it "G61.3340-002" and Philosophy calls it "G83.2296-001."
+The seminar meets on Mondays from 4-6, in
+the Linguistics building at 10 Washington Place, in room 104 (back of the first floor).
+One student session will be held every Wednesday from 3-4 on the
+fourth floor at 10 Washington Place.
## Announcements ##
-* The seminar meets on Mondays from 4-6, in
-the Linguistics building at 10 Washington Place, in room 104 (back of the first floor).
-
-<font color=red>
+* This is the time of the semester when some people start slipping
+ behind with the homework. Don't.
-* One student session will be held every Wednesday from 3-4. The other will
-be arranged to fit the schedule of those who'd like to attend but can't
-make the Wednesday time. (We first proposed Tuesdays from 11-12, but this
-time turns out not to be so helpful.) If you're one of the students who
-wants to meet for Q&A at some other time in the week, let us know.
+[[Older Announcements]]
- You should see the student sessions as opportunities to clear up lingering
-issues from material we've discussed, and help get a better footing for what
-we'll be doing the next week. It would be smart to make a serious start on that
-week's homework, for instance, before the session.
+##[[Lambda Evaluator]]##
-* There is now a [[lambda evaluator]] you can use in your browser (no need to
-install any software). It can help you check whether your answer to some of the
-homework questions works correctly.
+Usable in your browser. It can help you check whether your answer to some of
+the homework questions works correctly.
- There is also now a [library](/lambda_library) of lambda-calculus
+There is also now a [library](/lambda_library) of lambda-calculus
arithmetical and list operations, some relatively advanced.
- An evaluator with the definitions used for homework 3
-preloaded is available at [[assignment 3 evaluator]].
-
-* Henceforth, unless we say otherwise, every homework will be "due" by
-Sunday morning after the Monday seminar in which we refer to it.
-(Usually we'll post the assignment shortly before the seminar, but don't
-rely on this.) However, for every assignment there will be a "grace
-period" of one further week for you to continue working on it if you
-have trouble and aren't able to complete the assignment to your
-satisfaction by the due date. You shouldn't hesitate to talk to us---or
-each other!---about the assignments when you do have trouble. We don't
-mind so much if you come across answers to the assignment when browsing
-the web, or the Little Schemer book, or anywhere. So long as you can
-reason yourself through the solutions and experience for yourself the
-insights they embody.
-
- We reserve the privilege to ruthlessly require you to
-explain your solutions in conversations at any point, in section or in
-class.
-
- You should always *aim* to complete the assignments by the "due" date,
-as this will fit best with the progress of the seminar. Let's take
-assignment 3 to be "due" on Sunday Oct 3 (the date of this
-announcement), but as we announced last week in seminar, you can take up
-until this coming Sunday to complete it. If you need to. Try to complete
-it, and get assistance completing it if you need it, sooner.
-
-* We'll shortly be posting another assignment, assignment 4, which will be
-"due" on the Sunday before our next seminar. That is, on Sunday Oct 17.
-(There's no seminar on Monday Oct 11.)
-
- The assignments will tend to be quite challenging. Again, you should by
-all means talk amongst yourselves, and to us, about strategies and
-questions that come up when working through them.
-
- We will not always be able to predict accurately which problems are
-easy and which are hard. If we misjudge, and choose a problem that is
-too hard for you to complete to your own satisfaction, it is still
-very much worthwhile (and very much appreciated) if you would explain
-what is difficult, what you tried, why what you tried didn't work, and
-what you think you need in order to solve the problem.
-
-</font>
-
-<!--
- To play around with a **typed lambda calculus**, which we'll look at later
- in the course, have a look at the [Penn Lambda Calculator](http://www.ling.upenn.edu/lambda/).
- This requires installing Java, but provides a number of tools for evaluating
- lambda expressions and other linguistic forms. (Mac users will most likely
- already have Java installed.)
--->
-
## Lecture Notes and Assignments ##
(13 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week1]]; [[Assignment1]].
-Topics: Applications; Basics of Lambda Calculus; Comparing Different Languages
+> Topics: [[Applications]], including [[Damn]]; Basics of Lambda Calculus; Comparing Different Languages
(20 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week2]]; [[Assignment2]].
-Topics: Reduction and Convertibility; Combinators; Evaluation Strategies and Normalization; Decidability; Lists and Numbers
+> Topics: Reduction and Convertibility; Combinators; Evaluation Strategies and Normalization; Decidability; [[Lists and Numbers]]
(27 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week3]]; [[Assignment3]];
an evaluator with the definitions used for homework 3
-preloaded is available at [[assignment 3 evaluator]].
+preloaded is available at [[assignment 3 evaluator]].
-Topics: Recursion with Fixed Point Combinators
+> Topics: [[Evaluation Order]]; Recursion with Fixed Point Combinators
-(4 Oct) Lecture notes for Week 4
+(4 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week4]]; [[Assignment4]].
+
+> Topics: More on Fixed Points; Sets; Aborting List Traversals; [[Implementing Trees]]
+
+
+(18 Oct, 25 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week5]] and [[Week6]]; [[Assignment5]].
+
+> Topics: Types, Polymorphism, Unit and Bottom
+
+(1 Nov) Lecture notes for [[Week7]]; [[Assignment6]].
+
+> Topics: Monads; [[Reader Monad for Variable Binding]]; [[Reader Monad for Intensionality]]
+
+(8 Nov) Lecture notes for [[Week8]].
+
+> Topics: Reader Monad for Jacobson's Variable-Free Semantics
+
+(15 Nov) Lecture notes for [[Week9]] (these are being dynamically updated, how fitting); [[Assignment7]] is already ready. Everyone auditing in the class is encouraged to do this assignment, or at least work through the substantial "hints".
+
+> Topics: Mutable Variables; Passing by Reference
-<!-- Introducing the notion of a "continuation", which technique we'll now already have used a few times
--->
[[Upcoming topics]]
+[[Advanced Topics]]
+
+> Topics: Version 4 lists, Monads in Category Theory
+
+##Scheme and OCaml##
+
+See [below](#installing) for how to get the programming languages running on your computer.
+
+* Links for help [[learning Scheme]]
+
+* Links for help [[learning OCaml]]
+
##[[Offsite Reading]]##
familiar with one of them, it's not difficult to move between it and the
other.
+<a name=installing></a>
[[How to get the programming languages running on your computer]]
[[Family tree of functional programming languages]]
* *An Introduction to Lambda Calculi for Computer Scientists*, by Chris
Hankin, currently $17 on
-[Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Lambda-Calculi-Computer-Scientists/dp/0954300653).
+[Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0954300653).
* (Another good book covering the same ground as the Hankin book, but
more thoroughly, and in a more mathematical style, is *Lambda-Calculus and Combinators:
-an Introduction*, by J. Roger Hindley and Jonathan P. Seldin. If you choose to read
+an Introduction*, by J. Roger Hindley and Jonathan P. Seldin, currently $52 on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521898854). If you choose to read
both the Hankin book and this book, you'll notice the authors made some different
terminological/notational choices. At first, this makes comprehension slightly slower,
but in the long run it's helpful because it makes the arbitrariness of those choices more salient.)
+* (Another good book, covering some of the same ground as the previous two, but also delving much deeper into typed lambda calculi, is *Types and Programming Languages*, by Benjamin Pierce, currently $61 on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0262162091). This book has many examples in OCaml.)
* *The Little Schemer, Fourth Edition*, by Daniel P. Friedman and Matthias
Felleisen, currently $23 on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262560992).