COMP26020p1 - Unit Introduction & Part 1 Logistics

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### COMP26020 Programming Languages and Paradigms
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# Unit Introduction &<br>Part 1 Logistics

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# Whole Unit Introduction

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# Unit Overview

- **Year-long unit** that aims to cover the **principles of different programming language paradigms**
  - Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of the imperative, object-oriented, and functional programming paradigms
  - Describe the key principles of compilation
  - Highlight the impact of modern trends on programming languages

.center[Why do we need so many programming languages?]

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# Unit Content

- Part 1 (5 weeks): **Imperative Programming with C**
  - Pierre Olivier

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- Part 2 (3 weeks): **Object-Oriented Programming with C++**
  - Pavlos Petoumenos

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- Part 3 (5 weeks): **Functional Programming with Haskell**
  - Joe Razavi

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- Part 4 (5 weeks): **Compilation, Program Translation**
  - Rizos Sakellariou

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- Part 5 (3 weeks): **Advanced Topics, Concurrency**
  - Joe Razavi, Pavlos Petoumenos

Each part is self-contained and independent, and managed by its own instructor

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# Unit Organisation

- **Blended approach**: a mix of live sessions and asynchronous material (videos, exercises, etc.)
  - Live session once a week
  - Support sessions ("lab"): in essence office hours, drop-in for questions, feedback, etc.
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- **Assessment**:
  - 70% final exam at the end of Semester 2 in May/June
  - 30% summative laboratory exercises
      - Five exercises in total: each one carries a different weight
      - No lab session per se, to be done in your free time
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- **Please engage with the unit:** come in person to the lecture/support sessions, don't fall behind on the sync/async materials
  - Your final mark and enjoyment of the unit will be proportional to your engagement

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# Part 1: C Programming

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# Part 1/C Organisation

**Blended approach**: live sessions + asynchronous videos & exercises

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# Part 1/C Organisation Overview

1. **Lecture materials**:
  - Live lecture every Monday 12pm-1pm, in *Nancy Rothwell Building Lecture Theatre A*
  - A set of videos to watch every week **after the lecture**
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2. **Formative assessment** (not graded), every week:
  - 1 quiz + a set of autocorrected programming exercises
  - To do every week **after covering the lecture materials**
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3. **Summative assessment** (marked): 1 lab exercise, to be done in your free time at home and/or on the Department's machines
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4. **Support sessions**
  - Come if you have any questions about the lecture materials and formative/summative exercises
  - Every other week, starting the week of 05/10, Monday 3pm-5pm in Kilburn Collab. 1 + 2

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# Unit Canvas Page

.center[https://canvas.manchester.ac.uk/courses/89000]

- **Everything regarding part 1/C can be accessed from there:**
  - Schedule (what to do each week, **bookmark this page**)
  - Videos/live session recordings, links to lecture notes and slides
  - Links to summative and formative exercise instructions
  - Formative quizzes, discussion board, reading list

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# Why Learn C Today?

.leftcol[
- Old but still extremely popular
- Number 1 language for low-level systems software
- Today almost everything that has a CPU/MCU runs some C
- Knowing C will help you **understand how computers work!**
- "Missing link" between your computer architecture units, and high level software engineering units
]

.rightcol[
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="include/motivation.svg" width=400 /></div>
]

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# How Do I Become Fluent in C?

How can you engage properly and maximise your chances of success in this part of the course unit?

1. **Study the Core Concepts.** Each week:
  - Come to the lecture in person
  - Watch the video content right after the lecture
  - Take the quiz afterwards to validate your understanding (and also prepare for the exam)
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2. **Practise.** You need to code! Each week:
  - Complete the formative exercises (very important!)
  - Complete the steps of the summative exercise indicated in the schedule

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# Core Concepts: Lecture Materials

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# Lecture Materials: Code Snippets

- Live session and video slides are available online and include lots of code
- Access the slides for code examples you can run locally/in your browser: https://olivierpierre.github.io/comp26020

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- Using the bottom-right links, you can:
  - Download the file: click on the blue path
  - Get instructions on how to load and run it in a container by clicking on the GitHub logo <img src="include/gh-logo.svg" style="height: 1em" >
  - Run it in Compiler Explorer: ▶️

```c
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("hello, world!\n");
    return 0;
}
```
.codelink[<a href="src/sample-code.c" download>`00-logistics/sample-code.c`</a> <a href="https://github.com/olivierpierre/comp26020-devcontainer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none"><img src="include/gh-logo.svg" style="height: 1em"></a>]

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# Lecture Notes & Quizzes

- **Lecture notes:** https://olivierpierre.github.io/comp26020/
  - Cover the same content as the videos, but in written form
  - No need to read if you fully understand the lecture materials covered in the live session and videos
      - Useful if things are not 100% clear
      - Should also be useful for revision before the exam
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- **Quizzes:** 
  - 1/week, a few MCQ-like questions to complete after having seen all the lecture materials
  - On Canvas
  - Formative (unmarked)
  - Same type of questions as you will get in the exam

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# Lectures: Feedback Forms

- Each slide deck ends with a link to a small feedback form
- It's fully optional and anonymous: feel free to use it to tell me what you think about the lecture in question
  - Your feedback will help to make the course better!

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# Practical Work: Formative & Summative Exercises

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# The Practice: Formative Programming Exercises

- A few exercises per week, e.g., https://olivierpierre.github.io/comp26020/exercise-set-2.html
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- Divided into **essential** (must do) and **additional** (should do) exercises
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- Autocorrected with a tool called `check50`
- Instructions on how to install and use `check50` in a proper development environment are given with the exercises
  - You need a Linux x86-64 environment; I won't provide support for native Windows/Mac (virtualised solutions are available for these)

.center[**⚠️ Get your setup up and running this week ⚠️**]

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# The Practice: Summative Assignment (marked)

- Topic: writing device drivers in the Linux kernel
  - Challenging task
  - AI *mostly* authorised
- Brief already accessible, link on Canvas
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- Weight: 6.5% of the final COMP26020 mark
  - **50/50 coursework/exam weight split for the C part**

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- Needs to be done in a specific development environment (Docker container)
  - Different environment from the formative exercises

.center[**⚠️ Get your setup up and running this week ⚠️**]

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# The Practice: Generative AI Usage Rules

- **Formative exercises**: use of AI overall **not recommended**
  - Need to write code by yourself to learn
  - OK to use AI to get hints/help
  - Or as a last resort to get a solution if you struggle for too long with an exercise
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- **Summative exercise**: use of AI is **mostly authorised**
  - See the lab brief for further details
  - Study the code you generate and submit for this exercise: the exam will expect you to know that code very well

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- **The different parts of COMP26020 have different AI usage policies!**
  - Check Canvas/exercise briefs/instructor

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# How to Get Help?

The following applies to all parts of COMP26020:

- Any questions? Do not hesitate to raise your hand during the lecture
- Outside of the lecture, in increasing order of urgency:
  - Step 1: come to the next support session
  - Step 2: discussion forum on Canvas
      - Search for existing answers before posting a question
      - **Do not post answers there!**
  - Step 3: [pierre.olivier@manchester.ac.uk](mailto:pierre.olivier@manchester.ac.uk)
      - Think before emailing me: there are 350+ of you, so email is only for critical/urgent matters