This research-intense course is a seminar in programming languages. Students will take a deep dive into important papers in the field, attending weekly seminars in which a student presents one or two papers and their context and impact, followed by a discussion of the same. We will focus not just on what a paper itself says, but also on why it was written and ultimately published, as well as its impact on the field. Marks are based on the quality of the presentation and active participation in the course. The latter consists of written comments on the papers of the week submitted before the seminar, and in-seminar participation.
This course is limited to an enrolment of at most 12 students, based on permission codes. Students need to have either already completed COMP4450/2550/6445 (Research Methods) or be co-enrolled in COMP4550/8880 in order to enrol in this course.
First Course Meeting
Wednesday, 10am, Computer Systems Area (N224, Skaidrite Darius)
If you are interested in the course, it is important that you attend this meeting!
Assessment
Course marks are divided up as follows:
- 50%: Presentation (Overall quality, high-level intuition, technical depth, description of context, basis for discussion)
- 50%: Participation
- 25%: Written comments (1-2 paragraphs) per week on papers of the week and how they relate to other papers discussed earlier in the course
- 25%: Participation in discussions
Both kinds of participation are marked on a three-tier grading scheme:
- Did not participate/below expectations
- Base level of expected engagement
- Exceeded baseline expectations
We will drop the lowest participation mark and calculate an overall participation mark as an average of the rest, effectively counting the first level as 0s, the second level as CRs, and the third level as HDs.