Principles for Software Composition

PSC 2018/19 (375AA, 9 CFU)

Lecturer: Roberto Bruni
web - email - phone 050 2212785 - fax 050 2212726

Office hours: Tuesday 15:00-17:00 or by appointment

The objective of the course is to present:

• different models of computation,
• their programming paradigms,
• their mathematical descriptions, both concrete and abstract,
• some intellectual tools/techniques for reasoning on models.

The course will cover the basic techniques for assigning meaning to programs with higher-order, concurrent and probabilistic features (e.g., domain theory, logical systems, well-founded induction, structural recursion, labelled transition systems, Markov chains, probabilistic reactive systems, stochastic process algebras) and for proving their fundamental properties, such as termination, normalisation, determinacy, behavioural equivalence and logical equivalence. Temporal and modal logics will also be studied for the specification and analysis of programs. In particular, some emphasis will be posed on modularity and compositionality, in the sense of guaranteeing some property of the whole by proving simpler properties of its parts.

There are no prerequisites, but the students are expected to have some familiarity with discrete mathematics, first-order logic, context-free grammars, and code fragments in imperative and functional style.

Main text:

• Roberto Bruni, Ugo Montanari, “Models of Computation”, Springer Texts in Computer Science, 2017.

Other readings:

• Jane Hillston, A Compositional Approach to Performance Modelling, Cambridge University Press (1996). Chapters 1-3.
• Caleb Doxsey, Introducing Go, O'Reilly Media (2016). Chapters: 1-4, 6-7, 10.
• Joe Armstrong, Programming Erlang, 2nd edition. The Pragmatic Bookshelf (2013). Chapters: 1-5, 8, 10-12.
• Graham Hutton, “Programming in Haskell”, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press (2016). Chapters: 1-8, 14, 15.
• Robin Milner, “Communication and Concurrency”, Prentice Hall (1989). Chapters: 1-7, 10.

External resources:

• Haskell
• Erlang
• Google Go
• PEPA
• CAAL
• PseuCo

The evaluation will be based on written and oral exams.

The written exam is not necessary if the two (written) mid-terms exams are evaluated positively.

• First (written) mid-term exam: Wed April 3, 14:00-16:00, room L1
• Second (written) mid-term exam: Wed June 5, 11:00-13:00, room L1

Registration to written exams (mandatory): Exams registration system

In the written exam the student must demonstrate

• knowledge: his/her knowledge of the course material
• problem solving: the ability to solve some exercises, and
• organisation: the ability to organise an effective and correctly written reply.

During the oral exam the student must demonstrate

• knowledge: his/her knowledge of the course material, and
• understanding: the ability to discuss the reading matter thoughtfully and with propriety of expression.

• 08/05/2019:
  The missed lecture of friday 03/05 has been rescheduled as follows:
  • Wednesday 15/05 from 16:00 to 17:00 in room L1.
  • Wednesday 22/05 from 16:00 to 17:00 in room L1.

• 02/05/2019:
  The lecture of friday 03/05 is canceled due to an institutional meeting, it will be rescheduled in May

• 17/04/2019:
  The missed lecture of friday 29/03 is rescheduled for today from 16:00-18:00 in room L1.

• 29/03/2019:
  Today lecture is canceled, it will be rescheduled in April

• as the course starts:
  Each student should send an email to the professor from his/her favourite email account with subject PSC18-19 and the following data
  (by doing so, the account will be included in the class mailing-list, where important announcements can be sent):
  1. first name and last name (please clarify which is which, to avoid ambiguities)
  2. enrolment number (numero di matricola)
  3. bachelor degree (course of study and university)
  4. your favourite topics in computer science (optional)

• A.A. 2017/18
• MOD (A.A. 2016/17)
• MOD (A.A. 2015/16)
• MOD (A.A. 2014/15)
• MOD (A.A. 2013/14)