CSC3940

LISP programming

2 points
* One 1-hour lecture or tutorial per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisite: CSC1030 or equivalent
* Prohibitions: CSC2940

Objectives On completion of the subject, students should be able to appreciate the uses and limitations of LISP and be able to develop LISP programs.

Synopsis The subject introduces the programming language LISP and the functional programming language paradigm. The subject covers the following topics: the LISP interpreter, s-expressions, functions and symbols; list construction and manipulation, user-defined functions, formal parameters, free and bound symbols, global variables, scope; predicates, conditionals and logical operators; recursion, structured iteration; property lists; control over evaluation and function application; I/O; debugging; macros; packages; system functions; LISP compilation; lambda expressions; and how lambda calculus is the basis for functional programming; use of Emacs (a LISP-based editor).

Assessment Practical examination (3 hours): 100%

Prescribed texts

Wilensky R Common LISPcraft 3rd edn, Norton, 1990

Recommended texts

Friedman D P and Felleisen M The little LISPer 3rd edn, MIT Press, 1989
Graham P ANSI Common LISP Prentice-Hall, 1996