CS 331 Spring 2009
Requirements for Language Presentations
The last assignment in this class is to make an in-class
presentation on some computer language.
General Requirements
- Presentations should be 15–20 minutes long.
- Give your presentation in class on your assigned day,
and cover your assigned language.
- Your presentation should be done using the projector
in the classroom.
- If there are two in your group,
both need to be involved in the presentation.
You can split up the time
(one person talks first, and then the other)
or split up the work
(one person talks while the other types).
Topics
Begin your presentation with an overview of the language.
You should cover most or all of the following issues.
- A brief history.
When was the language first used?
Is it still under active development?
- Characteristics: is the language functional,
imperative, logic-based, concatenative, object-oriented, etc.
What stands out about this language?
- Say something about the type system.
Does it use static or dynamic typing?
Is it strongly or weakly typed?
- What is your opinion of the language?
Do you think you would like using it?
Show us what it is like to use the language.
Go through a complete build-execute cycle.
In other words, compile (if this is appropriate) and
execute a program.
This does not need to be a fancy program.
You can write it in class, or it can be already written.
In the remainder of your presentation, cover 2 or more of the
following language features.
Choose which ones to cover based on their implementation in the
language:
is it particularly interesting or unusual or well-done.
- I/O.
- Error handling (exceptions, etc.).
- Advanced list/array/sequence processing.
- Support for concurrent programming.
- Support for object-oriented programming.
- String handling.
- Special language constructs (things like list comprehensions,
monads, guard objects, pattern matching, generators, etc.).
Grading
The presentation will be worth 50 points
(the same as two normal assignments).
For groups of two, both students will receive the same score,
assuming that both are significantly involved in doing the
presentation.
Criteria for grading are as follows.
- Do you demonstrate knowledge of the language?
- You are not expected to be an expert on the language,
but you should have studied the language sufficiently
to be able to make the presentation.
- Are you prepared to make the presentation?
- It is one thing to know something;
it can be quite another thing to be prepared to tell others
about it.
Be organized and ready, knowing what you are going to cover,
with equipment that works,
and all necessary software installed.
- Do you cover the topics I asked you to?
- Do you communicate effectively?
- Your presentation should be done in such a way
that the audience
learns something about the language.
Advice
- Be sure your computer can connect to the projector
before your presentation.
The classroom is open all day and unused part of the day.
Go in and try things out.
- In my experience, having too little to say is more common
than too much.
I suggest preparing more material than you expect
to have to use.
- It is not a bad idea to practice,
particularly if you have not made presentations before.
- You are not required to use slides (PowerPoint, etc.);
I am not recommending that you do.
But if you do use slides, be sure you do not have too many.
I would suggest having at most 4 slides.