Programming Languages Writing Seminar
- ÕIS data: MTAT.03.271, 3 ECTS
- Time: Thursdays, 14:15 - 16:00 (NB! only selected weeks)
- Place: Liivi 2-512
- Language English is preferred, but you may write/present in Estonian if your thesis is in Estonian.
- Contact: vesal@ut.ee
- Please fill in this questionnaire!
Programming Languages
Programming languages is among the most preeminent fields of computer science. Indeed, few things have larger impact on how software is developed than advances in programming languages!
With concurrent, distributed, and embedded systems all raising new safety and security concerns, there are many challenging and exciting topics to explore in this field. I believe verified programming will be the next big thing; all the Big-5 silicon valley companies have now dabbled in formal verification and are actively building their static analysis teams. It is vital that we don't let Estonian IT fall too far behind!
Money for Nothing and Credits for Free
You have hopefully already realized that obtaining your degree will require the completion of a thesis. Many students complete their other courses but struggle with writing the thesis... in this seminar, you get credits for completing a small piece of writing that you can later build on to write your thesis. As you will have to write this stuff sooner or later, this is essentially helicopter-money that we distribute to improve the quality of your thesis.
The primary goal of this seminar is precisely to take you one step closer to graduation by completing one relevant piece of writing. There are hardly any physical meetings; instead, there will be monthly assignments along the way to check your progress and improve the quality of your writing. In the end, you are also expected to present your work and share your experience at a conference-like event. That's all!
What piece of writing?
You should aim for whatever you currently most need to write in order to make progress towards your degree.
- If you have not yet settled on a topic for your thesis, you can write an overview about what will hopefully become your future thesis topic. Check the topics page for ideas.
- If you already have a thesis topic, but haven't started writing, the typical place to start would be the literature survey or some introduction/overview of your approach.
- If you write a technical research paper during this seminar, you must additionally write a brief introduction such that your submission to this seminar is self-contained and can be at least somewhat understood by a master's student interested in programming languages.
How much work?
The schedule page contains the detailed deadlines. To pass this course, you are expected to complete the following activities:
- Choose a PL-related topic!
- Write a short (one paragraph) abstract.
- Give a short (5-7 min) informal presentation about the topic.
- Write the equivalent of a regular conference paper.
- Either 15-20 pages in LNCS format or 7-9 pages in ACM SIGPLAN proceedings format.
- It should be accessible to your fellow students interested in PL.
- You must submit three intermediate versions of the paper according to the deadlines.
- You should use LaTeX, unless disallowed by your religious or dietary restrictions.
- Support one student, providing feedback on intermediate versions, and critically review the submitted version of another student.
- Present your own paper at a "mini-conference".
- Attend at least 2/3 of the conference presentations.
- Choose a PL-related topic!
What if I need to implement something to write about?
We can register you to MTAT.03.272 (Programmeerimiskeelte uurimisprojekt / Special Assignment in Programming Languages). This provides an extra 3 ECTS credits for completing an independent task in the field of programming languages.