## Announcements ##
-The seminar meets on Mondays from 4-6, in
+* The seminar meets on Mondays from 4-6, in
the Linguistics building at 10 Washington Place, in room 104 (back of the first floor).
-Student sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 11-12 and Wednesdays from 3-4. (You only need attend one session.) You should see these 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.
+* 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+* 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+##[[Lambda Evaluator]]##
-We've sent around an email to those who left their email addresses on the roster we passed around. But it's clear that the roster didn't make its way to everyone. So if you're not receiving our seminar emails, please email <mailto:jim.pryor@nyu.edu> with your email address, and if you're a student, say whether you expect to audit or take the class for credit.
+## Lecture Notes and Assignments ##
-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.
+(13 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week1]]; [[Assignment1]].
-<!--
- 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.)
--->
+> Topics: [[Applications]], including [[Damn]]; Basics of Lambda Calculus; Comparing Different Languages
+(20 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week2]]; [[Assignment2]].
-## Lecture Notes and Assignments ##
+> Topics: Reduction and Convertibility; Combinators; Evaluation Strategies and Normalization; Decidability; [[Lists and Numbers]]
-(13 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week1]]; [[Assignment1]].
+(27 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week3]]; [[Assignment3]];
+an evaluator with the definitions used for homework 3
+preloaded is available at [[assignment 3 evaluator]].
-Topics: Applications; Basics of Lambda Calculus; Comparing Different Languages
+> Topics: [[Evaluation Order]]; Recursion with Fixed Point Combinators
-(20 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week2]]; [[Assignment2]].
+(4 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week4]]; [[Assignment4]].
-Topics: Reduction and Convertibility; Combinators; Evaluation Strategies and Normalization; Decidability; Lists and Numbers
+> Topics: More on Fixed Points; Sets; Aborting List Traversals; [[Implementing Trees]]
-(27 Sept) ...(Notes to come)
-Topics: Recursion with Fixed Point Combinators
-<!-- Introducing the notion of a "continuation", which technique we'll now already have used a few times
--->
+(18 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week5]] (in progress).
+
+> Topics: Types, Polymorphism
[[Upcoming topics]]
+[Advanced Lambda Calculus Topics](/advanced_lambda)
+
##[[Offsite Reading]]##
* *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).
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