Course development

(1) Lecture 12 (on Automatic memory management) was converted to a flipped classroom. Students were asked to self-study an introduction to the material before the lecture. The self-study preparation consisted of watching three short videos and reading parts of a Wikipedia article. Furthermore, the lecture began with a non-graded quiz and a Q&A session to ensure that the introduction to the material was clear and understood. In total, about 32 min. of lecture videos were recorded. (2) In order to increase opportunities to learn by collaborating and discussing with others, students were encouraged to work on the labs and course project in groups of 2-3 members. However, to enable adequate individual assessment, each student had to present his lab work individually to a TA who asked questions about the solution.

(1) Based on the previous course analysis, a lecture on data-flow analysis was added, in order to cover more aspects of the backend of a compiler. (2) The distribution of the workload was improved by starting the work on certain labs earlier; this required re-organizing the first couple of lectures to cover some necessary material earlier.