PSC 2020/21 (375AA, 9 CFU)

Lecturer: Roberto Bruni
web - email - Microsoft Teams channel

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:

• Graham Hutton, “Programming in Haskell”, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press (2016). Chapters: 1-8, 14, 15.
• Joe Armstrong, Programming Erlang, 2nd edition. The Pragmatic Bookshelf (2013). Chapters: 1-5, 8, 10-12.
• Caleb Doxsey, Introducing Go, O'Reilly Media (2016). Chapters: 1-4, 6-7, 10.
• Robin Milner, “Communication and Concurrency”, Prentice Hall (1989). Chapters: 1-7, 10.
• Luca Aceto, et al, “Reactive Systems”, Cambridge University Press (2011). Chapters: 1-7.
• Jane Hillston, A Compositional Approach to Performance Modelling, Cambridge University Press (1996). Chapters 1-3.

External resources:

• Haskell
• Erlang
• Google Go
• CAAL
• PEPA

Normally, the evaluation would have been based on written and oral exams.

Due to the covid-19 countermeasures, for the current period, the evaluation will be solely based on oral exams. As an alternative to the assignment of exercises during the oral exam, students can develop a small project before the exam (contact the teacher if interested).

Registration to exams (mandatory): Exams registration system

During the oral exam the student must demonstrate

• knowledge: his/her knowledge of the course material, and
• problem solving: the ability to solve some simple exercises, and
• understanding: the ability to discuss the reading matter thoughtfully and with propriety of expression.

See the channel Exams in the Microsoft Teams platform

• Due to the covid-19 emergency situation, there will be no mid-term exams

• as the course starts:
  Each student must subscribe the Microsoft Teams channel of the course and then send an email to the professor from his/her favourite email account with subject PSC20-21 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)

Virtual classroom: To join a lecture enter the course team on Microsoft Teams, go to the Lectures channel and click on the scheduled lecture.

Virtual classroom: To join a lecture enter the course team on Microsoft Teams, go to the Lectures channel and click on the scheduled lecture.

• A.A. 2019/20
• A.A. 2018/19
• A.A. 2017/18
• MOD (A.A. 2016/17)
• MOD (A.A. 2015/16)
• MOD (A.A. 2014/15)
• MOD (A.A. 2013/14)