COSC369-26S2 (C) Semester Two 2026

Programming languages

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 13 July 2026
End Date: Sunday, 8 November 2026
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 26 July 2026
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 27 September 2026

Description

This course focuses on the concepts of programming language theories and their implementations. The course also covers program semantics and program verification, which are powerful tools for guaranteeing the quality of software, for example, proving the correctness of program transformations and that a program is free of certain types of errors.

Prerequisites

DRAFT TIMETABLE:

Please note that the 2026 timetable has not been finalised.

Scheduled days and times will be confirmed, following review, on 15th October.

Timetable 2026

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 11:00 - 12:00 Karl Popper 612
13 Jul - 23 Aug
7 Sep - 18 Oct
Lecture B B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Thursday 11:00 - 12:00 Jack Erskine 441
13 Jul - 23 Aug
7 Sep - 18 Oct
Computer Lab A A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 14:00 - 16:00 Jack Erskine 134 Lab 3
13 Jul - 23 Aug
7 Sep - 18 Oct

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Quizzes 20%
Assignment 30%
Final Exam 50%

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Benjamin C. Pierce; Types And Programming Language Hardcover ; The MIT Press, 2002 (An electronic copy of this text is available at: https://libcat.canterbury.ac.nz/Record/2657885).

John C. Mitchell; Concepts in Programming Languages ; Cambridge University Press, 2003 (The (UC) library has one copy of this book; an ebook with unlimited use and DRM free is also available at the (UC) library).

Michael L. Scott; Programming Language Pragmatics ; 4th Edition; Morgan Kaufmann (Elsevier), 2016.

Additional Course Outline Information

Grade moderation

The Computer Science department's grading policy states that in order to pass a course you must meet two requirements:
1. You must achieve an average grade of at least 50% over all assessment items.
2. You must achieve an average mark of at least 45% on invigilated assessment items.

If you satisfy both these criteria, your grade will be determined by the following University-wide scale for converting marks to grades: an average mark of 50% is sufficient for a C- grade, an average mark of 55% earns a C grade, 60% earns a C+ grade and so forth. However if you do not satisfy both the passing criteria you will be given either a D or E grade depending on marks. Marks are sometimes scaled to achieve consistency between courses from year to year.

Students may apply for special consideration if their performance in an assessment is affected by extenuating circumstances beyond their control.

Applications for special consideration should be submitted via the Special Considerations website within five days of the assessment.

Where an extension may be granted for an assessment, this will be decided by direct application to the Department and an application to the Examinations Office may not be required.

Special consideration is not available for items worth less than 10% of the course.

Students prevented by extenuating circumstances from completing the course after the final date for withdrawing, may apply for special consideration for late discontinuation of the course. Applications must be submitted to the Examinations Office within five days of the end of the main examination period for the semester.

Special Consideration Applications for the Final Exam

Please click HERE for the CSSE Department's policy for the academic remedy of applications for a special consideration for final exams.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,058.00

International fee $5,388.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Computer Science and Software Engineering .

All COSC369 Occurrences

  • COSC369-26S2 (C) Semester Two 2026