Functional programming and theorem proving for undergraduates

Page, Rex; Eastlund, Carl; Felleisen, Matthias

doi:10.1145/1411260.1411264

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The honors course is an outgrowth of a course in applied logic required in the computer science program at the University of Oklahoma. Other papers have discussed the earlier course and supporting tools [1,2,3,4,5,6,7].…”

Section: One and Donementioning

confidence: 99%

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How Computers Work: Computational Thinking for Everyone

Page

Gamboa

2013

Electron. Proc. Theor. Comput. Sci.

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What would you teach if you had only one course to help students grasp the essence of computation and perhaps inspire a few of them to make computing a subject of further study? Assume they have the standard college prep background. This would include basic algebra, but not necessarily more advanced mathematics. They would have written a few term papers, but would not have written computer programs. They could surf and twitter, but could not exclusive-or and nand. What about computers would interest them or help them place their experience in context? This paper provides one possible answer to this question by discussing a course that has completed its second iteration. Grounded in classical logic, elucidated in digital circuits and computer software, it expands into areas such as CPU components and massive databases. The course has succeeded in garnering the enthusiastic attention of students with a broad range of interests, exercising their problem solving skills, and introducing them to computational thinking

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Section: One and Donementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perspectives courses in the Honors College are limited to nineteen students. 3 Nineteen students enrolled in the 2011 offering, but two dropped the course after a few weeks. The 2012 offering was oversubscribed at twenty students.…”

Section: Demographicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Computers Work: Computational Thinking for Everyone

Page

Gamboa

2013

Electron. Proc. Theor. Comput. Sci.

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“…They now use it from the Dracula programming environment [15] [16] in the DrScheme system [8]. This environment provides the type of point-and-click interface that most students are accustomed to and extends ACL2 i/o to include graphics and interactions with keyboard and pointing devices and includes an automated testing facility that generates random tests based on statements of theorems [15].…”

Section: Software Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational logic in the undergraduate curriculum

Page

2009

Proceedings of the Eighth International Workshop on the ACL2 Theorem Prover and Its Applications

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Logic provides the mathematical basis for hardware design and software development. In fact, digital circuits and computer programs are logic formulas expressed in a formal language. Accordingly, educated computer scientists should have experience in reasoning about the formulas that their digital circuits and programs represent. An exemplary way to get this experience is to use computational logic in support of such reasoning. This paper searches the typical undergraduate curriculum in computer science for opportunities to include material on computational logic in the context of hardware and software design and implementation. It explains how computational logic has been included as an element of two courses required in most computer science programs. It discusses some successes and a few missteps that the author has experienced over the past nine years in developing this material and using it in the classroom, and it suggests opportunities for similar efforts in other courses. Categories and Subject Descriptors General TermsDesign, Reliability, Languages, Verification. KeywordsFormal methods, theorem provers, ACL2, software engineering, computer science curriculum. RATIONALELogic provides the mathematical basis for hardware design and software development. In fact, digital circuits and computer programs are logic formulas expressed in a formal language.Accordingly, educated computer scientists should have experience in reasoning about the formulas that their digital circuits and programs represent. An exemplary way to get this experience is to use computational logic in support of such reasoning.Using ACL2 [10] as a computational logic engine for exposing students to this technology provides some advantages over other choices. It employs the widely used syntax of Common Lisp and smoothly integrates its theorem proving system within this syntax. This is important because it alleviates problems that come with introducing radically new elements into the curriculum. One such problem is resistance from students, computer science faculties, and outside advisors of academic programs. A programming notation in widespread use over a long period is easier to sell than one that has seen less use. Practical applications of ACL2 in industry and government are important in this regard.Another problem has to do with the steepness of the learning curve. Many computational logic systems require a substantial investment of intense study before they begin to pay off. ACL2 presents a relatively simple basis for stating properties of software (and of hardware models), one that most students recognize from their knowledge of predicate calculus. Furthermore, the reasoning engine of ACL2 automatically generates inductive proofs of many correctness properties. This makes it possible for students to succeed early. Once they understand how to state properties as formulas in logic, ACL2 delivers proofs of many of those properties without assistance.The following sections describe experience with computational logic in three cou...

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“…Tools like BlueJ [3][4][5], Alice [6,7], DrScheme [8][9][10], Greenfoot [11][12][13] or Academic Java [14] address programming in their own unique way. For example, while both BlueJ and Alice target novices in object-oriented programming, BlueJ is based on UML and Java, while Alice uses a built-in drag-and-drop interface to program a 3D world with a high degree of interaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Family of Tools for Supporting the Learning of Programming

Rößling

2010

Algorithms

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Both learning how to program and understanding algorithms or data structures are often difficult. This paper presents three complementary approaches that we employ to help our students in learning to program, especially during the first term of their study. We use a web-based programming task database as an easy and risk-free environment for taking the first steps in programming Java. The Animal algorithm visualization system is used to visualize the dynamic behavior of algorithms and data structures. We complement both approaches with tutorial videos on using the Eclipse IDE. We also report on the experiences with this combined approach.

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Functional programming and theorem proving for undergraduates

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

How Computers Work: Computational Thinking for Everyone

How Computers Work: Computational Thinking for Everyone

Computational logic in the undergraduate curriculum

A Family of Tools for Supporting the Learning of Programming

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