CS 380 Exam Two Terms and Concepts

Clojure

• Be able to write and understand simple Clojure code.

Chapter 6

• Control flow
• How expressions are evaluated
• short-circuit evaluation
• selection statements
• iteration statements
• recursion, including tail recursion

Chapter 7

• Type systems
• type checking, including name versus structure compatability
• type inference

Chapter 8

• Composite types
• records, arrays, including associative arrays
• pointers
  • heap-dynamic variables
  • dereferencing
  • pointer problems, including:
    • dangling pointers (what causes them, what can be done)
    • lost heap-dynamic variables (what causes them, what can be done)
  • how languages use pointers
  • reference variables (in Java or Common Lisp) vs. pointers
  • heap management (including garbage collection)

Chapter 9

• subroutines:
  • basic characteriscs
  • kinds of parameters: positional, keyword, optional
  • categories: procedures and functions
  • local referencing environment: stack dynamic vs. static
• parameter passing
  • semantic models: in, out, in out
  • transfer models: copy or access path
  • implementation models:
    • pass-by-value
    • pass-by-result
    • pass-by-value-result
    • pass-by-reference
  • be able to simulate each
  • show how some can introduce aliases
  • type checking of parameters
• know what needs to happen for a subprogram call
• know what needs to happen for a subprogram return
• fully static environments, know how they work
• stack-based runtime environments
  • know how they work
  • static link vs. dynamic link
  • techniques for accessing nonlocal variables, static chains vs. displays
• nonlocal references in a dynamically-scoped environment
• fully dynamic environments, what makes them (sometimes) necessary
• exception handling

Chapter 10

• Data abstraction and object orientation
• big three: encapsulation, inheritance, dynamic polymorphism
• encapsulation
• inheritance
  • terminology: object, instance, subclass, superclass, method, message
  • single vs. multiple inheritance vs. interfaces
• polymorphism and dynamic binding
• "pure" object-oriented languages vs. hybrids

Chapter 11

• functional languages
• referential transparency
• persistant data types
• lazy evalution, why it is useful and how it works
• programs as data