X-Git-Url: http://lambda.jimpryor.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lambda.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=index.mdwn;h=2bc3cc86421fa0e9f789a63d5ed53616aca782d3;hp=88b02615dd14901b242a3f00e935a0fc98a97c94;hb=f09a077defb2e9030c3e8581c445443838415ae2;hpb=9d22263ad8e53745bd9b8eed4b058a60c2f354fa diff --git a/index.mdwn b/index.mdwn index 88b02615..2bc3cc86 100644 --- a/index.mdwn +++ b/index.mdwn @@ -2,101 +2,23 @@ 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." - - -## Announcements ## - -* The seminar meets on Mondays from 4-6, in +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" and Philosophy calls it "G83.2296" +The seminar meets in spring 2015 on Thursdays from 4-7, 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. 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. - - -## Lecture Notes and Assignments ## - -(13 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week1]]; [[Assignment1]]. - -> 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]] - -(27 Sept) Lecture notes for [[Week3]]; [[Assignment3]]; -an evaluator with the definitions used for homework 3 -preloaded is available at [[assignment 3 evaluator]]. - -> Topics: [[Evaluation Order]]; Recursion with Fixed Point Combinators - -(4 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week4]]; [[Assignment4]]. - -> Topics: More on Fixed Points; Sets; Aborting List Traversals; [[Implementing Trees]] - - -(18 Oct) Lecture notes for [[Week5]] (in progress). - -> Topics: Types, Polymorphism - -[[Upcoming topics]] - -[Advanced Lambda Calculus Topics](/advanced_lambda) + -##[[Offsite Reading]]## +## Announcements ## -There's lots of links here already to tutorials and encyclopedia entries about many of the notions we'll be dealing with. +This wiki will be undergoing lots of changes throughout the semester, and particularly in these first few days as we get it set up, migrate over some of the content from the previous time +we taught this course, and iron out various technical wrinkles. Please be patient. +If you've eager to learn, though, you don't have to wait on us to be ready to serve you. You can go look at the [archived first version](http://lambda1.jimpryor.net) of this course. Just keep in mind that +the text and links there haven't been updated. ## Course Overview ## @@ -106,6 +28,7 @@ theoretical computer science and show how they can provide insight into established philosophical and linguistic problems. This is not a seminar about any particular technology or software. + Rather, it's about a variety of conceptual/logical ideas that have been developed in computer science and that linguists and philosophers ought to know, or may already be unknowingly trying to reinvent. @@ -136,11 +59,14 @@ especially in the fields of functional programming and type theory. Of necessity, this course will lay a lot of logical groundwork. But throughout we'll be aiming to mix that groundwork with real cases -in our home subjects where these tools play central roles. Our aim for the +in our home subjects where these tools play central roles. + +Our aim for the course is to enable you to make these tools your own; to have enough understanding of them to recognize them in use, use them yourself at least in simple ways, and to be able to read more about them when appropriate. + Faculty and students from outside of NYU Linguistics and Philosophy are welcome to audit, to the extent that this coheres well with the needs of our local @@ -226,10 +152,20 @@ other. But these languages also have a lot in common, and if you're familiar with one of them, it's not difficult to move between it and the other. + ## Recommended Books ## @@ -268,7 +204,6 @@ superficial syntactic differences between these languages. [Here's a translation manual between them](http://www.mpi-sws.org/~rossberg/sml-vs-ocaml.html). - ---- All wikis are supposed to have a [[SandBox]], so this one does too.