Announcements

May 20, 2004

Information on the open positions that EDS has at the Montana center in Bozeman.

These are permanent positions as Information Analysts based in Bozeman and offer a very competitive salary for the Bozeman area.

Prerequisites: * CS degree or equivalent business experience * Flexible to travel * Flexible on job content (anything from prod. support to enhancements to testing to development) * Flexible schedule (could be part of a 24x7 on-call rotating schedule)

Candidates should forward resumes via email to greg.waring@eds.com

or via mail to attn: Greg Waring EDS 201 Evergreen Dr. Bozeman MT 59715

Please let me know if you need any additional information on these positions. I am in San Francisco this week so email and cell phone are the best ways to reach me. I appreciate your help in getting this information out, and realize that the students have already graduated and we may not see much response.

Thank you, Greg Waring EDS * MT phone: +01-406-582-5221 * cell phone: +01-406-570-8219 * mailto:greg.waring@eds.com

May 12, 2004

These are permanent positions as Information Analysts based in Bozeman and offer a very competitive salary for the Bozeman area.

Prerequisites: * CS degree or equivalent business experience * Flexible to travel * Flexible on job content (anything from prod. support to enhancements to testing to development) * Flexible schedule (could be part of a 24x7 on-call rotating schedule)

Candidates should forward resumes via email to greg.waring@eds.com

or via mail to attn: Greg Waring EDS 201 Evergreen Dr. Bozeman MT 59715

Please let me know if you need any additional information on these positions. I am in San Francisco this week so email and cell phone are the best ways to reach me. I appreciate your help in getting this information out, and realize that the students have already graduated and we may not see much response.

Thank you, Greg Waring EDS * MT phone: +01-406-582-5221 * cell phone: +01-406-570-8219 * mailto:greg.waring@eds.c

May 8, 2004

The final grades are done.  I have been telling my faculty colleagues that I think this was probably the best overall senior class we have had, and your performance justifies that assessment.   I normally shoot for a grade point average in this course of 2.7-2.9, but his year it turned out to be a 3.1.  More compilers were completed to an advanced level than ever before, and the code review at the end showed that programming skills in an OO language were up. 

I did get some helpful comments back on my student evaluations that I can use to improve the course for next year.   

The overall final score was computed as follows.

final score = max( (20% * midterm + 30% * final), 50% * final) + 30% * project run + 20% * code review

and the cutoffs were determined based on the target GPA and the cutoffs described in the April 22, 2004 - note 2 posting below. 

Finally, please keep in touch.  It always helps when you contact any of us to include a reminder of the year in which you graduated, and, if possible, to attach a picture of yourself.  In a few years down the line, names and faces are sometimes hard to recall.  Also, if you have a picture to send for me to attach to the CS web page, please do that along with a bio.

Thanks for making the class great!

April 29, 2004

The CS spring picnic is scheduled for this Saturday starting 4pm at Cooper Park. At 7pm, John Paxton will kindly host an anti-computer gaming night at his house (721 S. 6th). Further information will be placed in your mailboxes soon in the form of a transparency. Please announce the picnic in your classes. Hope to see you there on Saturday!

April 28, 2004-1

You may bring two 8.5x11 inch sheets of notes to the final.

April 28, 2004-2

I have included last year's final exam on the resources page.  I am able to download it with Internet Explorer but not Netscape, so you might want to try IE if you are having trouble downloading it with Netscape.

April 22, 2004 - note 1

For your projects there are a couple of important announcements.

First, note that for setting up activation records for procedure and function calls, the code that generates the first part of an activation record (at the point of call) must save the display register of the called routine.  This register value, however, must not be changed to point to this new activation record until all actual paramters have been pushed onto the stack, because these actual parameters may need to be referenced by the same display register that is about to be set to point to the new activation record.  The lecture of 4/19/04 gives an example.

Second, be sure to test your compiler to the limit.  Offer to trade test cases with other groups.  Try to break your compiler.  Be sure to try to think of all possible scenarios.  For example, if you pass an actual parameter that is a variable to a formal VAR parameter, and then in that procedure further call another procedure passing the VAR parameter as the actual parameter to another formal VAR parameter, how should this be done properly?  Try testing loops with values that would force the loops to not execute even once, and so forth.

Finally, please not that for parameter passing, Pascal only allows variables and VAR mode parameters to be passed as actual parameters to VAR mode formal parameters.  Constants, non-VAR mode parameters, and the results of expressions cannot be passed as actual parameters to VAR mod formal parameters.

April 22, 2004 - note 2

As discussed in class and posted on the web, the final exam in CS 450 will be held during your lab time and in your regular lab room on Thursday, April 29. 

• The final will be comprehensive, but will focus on the material from parsing on, including First sets, Follow sets, and LL(1) table construction.
• You will be able to use all of the lab period for the exam.
• The exam will not entail using a computer
• You may bring two (2) 8.5x11 inch pages of notes to use during the exam

We also discussed an addendum to the grading procedure in class.  In order to recognize students who have continued to learn at a high level throughout the semester, grade assignment will be done as follows.

• grades will first be computed with the project counted as 50% of the overall score and the exams as 50% of the overall score.  The midterm will constitute 20% and the final 30% of the exam component.
• grades will then be assigned by curve on this calculation with a breakdown that ensures a grade point average of about 2.7-2.8.
• the scores will then be recalculated with the final constituting 50% and the project counting 50% of the overall score.  If this calculation moves a student to a higher grade bracket according to the original grading structure, the student will be awarded the higher grade.

All grades are subject, of course, to the other policies, such as a student cannot receive a grade higher than the tested level of his or her compiler project.  Reread the grading policy page for more information.

Please ask for clarification if needed.

April 22, 2004 - note 3

From Department Head Michael Oudshoorn:

The Order of the Ring ceremony is being held on Friday May 7 at 2:30pm. If any faculty are interested in being inducted into this group please let me know ASAP (before Monday please) and I’ll pass names onto Robert. Apparently it is open to all Engineering (including Computer Science) graduates who have graduated from accredited (i.e., ABET) programs.

In the past, this award was not open to CS graduates, but the rules seem to have changed this semester.

As a result, graduating CS majors are eligible to apply for induction. Could you please tell the students in your 300 and 400 level classes that they are eligible to apply for the Order of the Engineer (more details are available at http://www.order-of-the-engineer.org/). The cost is $14 and the student needs to complete an application form and get sized for the ring with Nancy in the Dean’s Office by 5pm on Monday (April 26).

Since the graduate programs are not accredited, I am not sure if the MS and PhD students are eligible to join. However, if the students holds a BS in Computer Science from an accredited program then I suspect that they are eligible.

Sorry about the short notice, but I only just found out about this at the Heads meeting this afternoon.

April 21, 2004

Your compiler in final, polished form is due Monday night at midnight.  You will be submitting them electronically as before, so the time stamp will indicate your turn in time.

March 9, 2004

Some students have noticed a discrepency in the LL(1) table that was posted.  It isn't clear just what it is, but we certainly won't "ding" you on your parser for any problem relating to it.  In the meantime, one of your colleagues, Clint Frederickson, has put the entire microPascal grammar into the LL(1) tool we have posted on the web that was done by graduate student Michael Milvich.  You can find the resulting table and other information at

http://frederickson-clan.com/clint_and_starsha/school/cs450/grammarmp.html

This one should be correct...except that it has one extraneous nonterminal called S' that you can ignore (and any rule emanating from it).  The S' served the role in Milvich's LL(1) tool of <system goal> in our grammar.

Thanks to Clint.

March 8, 2004-1

A few students answered question 1-d on the exam by giving a compressed fsa listing "number" and or "dollar" on a single arrow.  If you were one of these, please come by to see me and bring your exam with you.

February 24. 2004

There is now a new LL(1) tool on the resources page thanks to graduate student Michael Milvich.  Download it, unzip it, and play with it.  Documentation is sparse, but it is fairly  intuitive.  Just click on the executable .jar file to get it started.

February 18, 2004

You may bring one 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of notes to the exam.  Otherwise the exam is closed book.

The exam will consist of short answer questions over the material through the lecture of February 13.

February 16, 2004

ACM was just able to arrange a really neato tech talk with several Apple reps on Tuesday. I have placed another transparency in your boxes to announce this event. Sorry to give you two in such a short period of time. Since the tech talk is scheduled for Tuesday, an immediate notice in your classes would be very much appreciated.

Tuesday, February 17, 5:00 p.m., CS conference room.  Free pizza.

February 13, 2004

It was pointed out that there is a discrepancy on the date for the exam time.  The calendar has show the exam time to be Wednesday, February 18, whereas the lecture page implied that it would be on Friday of that week.  So, we will fix the exam to be on Friday, February 20.  This will give us one more class period before the exam.

February 12, 2004

Here is something for all of you looking for possible employment:

Micron Technology, Inc., is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. The company is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with U.S. locations in Lehi, Utah; San Jose and Pasadena, California; Allen, Texas; Manassas, Virginia; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Micron also has international facilities located in Italy, Japan, Singapore, China, Scotland, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Micron has approximately 16,700 employees worldwide.

Micron's DRAM and Flash components are used in today's most advanced computing, networking, and communications products, including computers, workstations, servers, cell phones, wireless devices, digital cameras, and gaming systems. Micron also provides CMOS image sensor solutions to the handset camera, digital still camera, and PC video camera markets. Micron's mission is to be the most efficient and innovative global provider of semiconductor solutions. This mission is exemplified by short cycle times, high yields, low production costs, and die sizes that are some of the smallest in the industry. At Micron, we realize just how vital it is to be on the cutting edge, so we support and promote programs that will keep us there. Our Education Assistance Program provides tuition support for job and/or industry-related courses and degree programs. Associates, Bachelors and Master's degrees are offered through local institutions, and where possible, targeted courses and programs are made available on-site for employees. Micron resources are available to help our team members prepare their educational plans and select the programs that best support their industry interests and career development. We encourage our team members to continue their education and training. We are committed to helping each one make it happen.

Meet Micron Engineers and Recruiters at our Information Session: Tuesday, February 17th at 5:30pm Student Union Building Northwest Lounge Come learn more about our company and speak with our Engineers and Recruiters on an individual basis.

 

February 5, 2004

The EBNF page for microPascal has been updated.  In particular see the EBNF for identifier, now modified to reflect the identifier pattern defined in your lab of January 29.

February 3, 2004

Please note that the calendar link on the web page has been updated to reflect accurate dates.  Look at it to remind yourself of exam times and project due dates.

January 27, 2004

Note:  The list of tokens gives the reserved words.  You will be treating reserved words differently than other tokens.  Scan reserved words as identifiers like any identifier.  We will be discussing how to resolve the reserved words later.

January 24, 2004

Check out the "first languages" link on our resources page to see what the first programming language was that our faculty learned.

January 22, 2004

Note for members of the 8:00 lab that met on Thursday, January 22.  The milestone was listed incorrectly in the lab as being Milestone 1.  It should have been Milestone 2.  Be sure to read Milestone 2.  Your stubbed scanner will be due next Thursday in lab.  We will talk about this in Friday's lecture.

January 12, 2004

Welcome!  Here are a few pertinent announcements:

• There will be lab on Thursday, January 14.  The purpose of the lab will be for you to pick your programming partners and be sure you understand the details of the project upon which you will be embarking.
• You will also be responsible for reading and understanding the grading policy, which is different than for most classes you have taken.
• The lab will also acquaint you with the class rules.

Looking forward to a fun semester!