By introducing the principles of programming languages, using the Java language as a support, Gilles Dowek provides the necessary fundamentals of this language as a first objective. It is important to realise that knowledge of a single programming language is not really enough. To be a good programmer, you should be familiar with several languages and be able to learn new ones. In order to do this, you’ll need to understand universal concepts, such as functions or cells, which exist in one form or another in all programming languages. The most effective way to understand these universal concepts is to compare two or more languages. In this book, the author has chosen Caml and C. To understand the principles of programming languages, it is also important to learn how to precisely define the meaning of a program, and tools for doing so are discussed. Finally, there is coverage of basic algorithms for lists and trees. Written for students, this book presents what all scientists and engineers should know about programming languages.

A textbook that uses a hands-on approach to teach principles of programming languages, with Java as the implementation language. This introductory textbook uses a hands-on approach to teach the principles of programming languages. Using Java as the implementation language, Rajan covers a range of emerging topics, including concurrency, Big Data, and event-driven programming. Students will learn to design, implement, analyze, and understand both domain-specific and general-purpose programming languages. Develops basic concepts in languages, including means of computation, means of combination, and means of abstraction. Examines imperative features such as references, concurrency features such as fork, and reactive features such as event handling. Covers language features that express differing perspectives of thinking about computation, including those of logic programming and flow-based programming. Presumes Java programming experience and understanding of object-oriented classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and static classes. Each chapter corresponds with a working implementation of a small programming language allowing students to follow along.

This textbook is a thorough, up-to-date introduction to the principles and techniques that guide the design and implementation of modern programming languages. The goal of the book is to provide the basis for a critical understanding of most modern programming languages. Thus, rather than focusing on a specific language, the book identifies the most important principles shared by large classes of languages. The notion of ‘abstract machine’ is a unifying concept that helps to maintain an accurate and elementary treatment. The book introduces, analyses in depth, and compares the imperative, object-oriented, functional, logic, concurrent, constraint-based, and service-oriented programming paradigms. All material coming from the first English edition has been updated and extended, clarifying some tricky points, and discussing newer programming languages. This second edition contains new chapters dedicated to constraint, concurrent, and service-oriented programming. Topics and features: Requires familiarity with one programming language is a prerequisite Provides a chapter on history offering context for most of the constructs in use today Presents an elementary account of semantical approaches and of computability Introduces new examples in modern programming languages like Python or Scala Offers a chapter that opens a perspective on applications in artificial intelligence Conceived as a university textbook, this unique volume will also be suitable for IT specialists who want to deepen their knowledge of the mechanisms behind the languages they use. The choice of themes and the presentation style are largely influenced by the experience of teaching the content as part of a bachelor's degree in computer science.

A new edition of a textbook that provides students with a deep, working understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages, completely revised, with significant new material. This book provides students with a deep, working understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages. Most of these essentials relate to the semantics, or meaning, of program elements, and the text uses interpreters (short programs that directly analyze an abstract representation of the program text) to express the semantics of many essential language elements in a way that is both clear and executable. The approach is both analytical and hands-on. The book provides views of programming languages using widely varying levels of abstraction, maintaining a clear connection between the high-level and low-level views. Exercises are a vital part of the text and are scattered throughout; the text explains the key concepts, and the exercises explore alternative designs and other issues. The complete Scheme code for all the interpreters and analyzers in the book can be found online through The MIT Press web site. For this new edition, each chapter has been revised and many new exercises have been added. Significant additions have been made to the text, including completely new chapters on modules and continuation-passing style. Essentials of Programming Languages can be used for both graduate and undergraduate courses, and for continuing education courses for programmers.

“This book is a systematic exposition of the fundamental concepts and general principles underlying programming languages in current use.” -- Preface.