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LouvainX: Paradigms of Computer Programming – Abstraction and Concurrency

This course covers data abstraction, state, and deterministic dataflow in a unified framework with practical code exercises.
6 weeks
4–6 hours per week
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
This course is archived

About this course

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Louv1.2x and its predecessor Louv1.1x together give an introduction to all major programming concepts, techniques, and paradigms in a unified framework. We cover the three main programming paradigms: functional, object-oriented, and declarative dataflow.

The two courses are targeted toward people with a basic knowledge of programming. It will be most useful to beginning programming students, but the unconventional approach should be insightful even to seasoned professionals.

Louv1.1x (Fundamentals) covers functional programming, its techniques and its data structures. You’ll use simple formal semantics for all concepts, and see those concepts illustrated with practical code that runs on the accompanying open-source platform, the Mozart Programming System.

Louv1.2x (Abstraction and Concurrency) covers data abstraction, state, and concurrency. You’ll learn the four ways to do data abstraction and discuss the trade-offs between objects and abstract data types. You’ll be exposed to deterministic dataflow, the most useful paradigm for concurrent programming, and learn how it avoids race conditions.

To learn more about the practical organization of the two courses, watch the introductory video.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Programming Concepts, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Abstract Data Types, Computer Programming, Data Abstraction, Concurrent Computing, Functional Programming, Data Structures, Deterministic Methods

What you'll learn

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  • How to specify problems, break them down into their basic steps, and design algorithms and abstractions to solve them
  • How to choose the right programming paradigm and write a program in this paradigm to solve a problem
  • How to use formal semantics to reason about program correctness
  • How to write small concurrent programs in the deterministic dataflow paradigm

Learner testimonials

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"Hard to express how insightful this class is. It provides a taxonomy of programming paradigms --one I have not seen elsewhere-- that will benefit any programmer. With the thousands of programming languages out there, it is great to have a framework that helps understand how they relate. The approach is not 'this is the best paradigm' but rather 'this paradigm is best for'. " (a learner on CourseTalk)

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