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 textbook offers an understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages. The text uses interpreters, written in Scheme, to express the semantics of many essential language elements in a way that is both clear and directly executable.

This book looks the variety of modern programming languages and uses them to illustrate the following major programming paradigms: imperative, object oriented, functional and logic languages, and languages for parallel and distributed systems.

Friedman, Wand, and Haynes have done a landmark job... The sample interpreters in this book are outstanding models. Indeed, since they are runnable models, I'm sure that these interpreters will find themselves at the cores of many programming systems over the years. --from the foreword by Hal Abelson What really happens when a program runs? Essentials of Programming Languages teaches the fundamental concepts of programming languages through numerous short programs, or interpreters, that actually implement the features of a language. Nearly 300 exercises using these programs provide a hands-on understanding of programming principles that is hard, if not impossible, to achieve by formal study alone. In an approach that is uniquely suited to mastering a new level of programming structure, the authors derive a sequence of interpreters that begins with a high-level operational specification (close to formal semantics) and ends with what is effectively assembly language--a process involving programming transformation techniques that should be in the toolbox of every programmer. The first four chapters provide the foundation for an in-depth study of programming languages, including most of the features of Scheme, needed to run the language-processing programs of the book. The next four chapters form the core of the book, deriving a sequence of interpreters ranging from very high- to very low-level. The authors then explore variations in programming language semantics, including various parameter-passing techniques and object-oriented languages, and describe techniques for transforming interpreters that ultimately allow the interpreter to beimplemented in any low-level language. They conclude by discussing scanners and parsers and the derivation of a compiler and virtual machine from an interpreter. More on Essentials of Programming Languages

Monograph comprising fundamental information on the history and characteristics of approximately 120 programming languages for computer usage - covers technical aspects, language structure, etc. Bibliography at the end of each chapter.

This text teaches the essentials of C programming, concentrating on what readers need to know in order to produce stand-alone programs and so solve typical scientific and engineering problems. It is a learning-by-doing book, with many examples and exercises, and lays a foundation of scientific programming concepts and techniques that will prove valuable for those who might eventually move on to another language. Written for undergraduates who are familiar with computers and typical applications but are new to programming.

What Every Professional C++ Programmer Needs to Know—Pared to Its Essentials So It Can Be Efficiently and Accurately Absorbed C++ is a large, complex language, and learning it is never entirely easy. But some concepts and techniques must be thoroughly mastered if programmers are ever to do professional-quality work. This book cuts through the technical details to reveal what is commonly understood to be absolutely essential. In one slim volume, Steve Dewhurst distills what he and other experienced managers, trainers, and authors have found to be the most critical knowledge required for successful C++ programming. It doesn’t matter where or when you first learned C++. Before you take another step, use this book as your guide to make sure you’ve got it right! This book is for you if You’re no “dummy,” and you need to get quickly up to speed in intermediate to advanced C++ You’ve had some experience in C++ programming, but reading intermediate and advanced C++ books is slow-going You’ve had an introductory C++ course, but you’ve found that you still can’t follow your colleagues when they’re describing their C++ designs and code You’re an experienced C or Java programmer, but you don’t yet have the experience to develop nuanced C++ code and designs You’re a C++ expert, and you’re looking for an alternative to answering the same questions from your less-experienced colleagues over and over again C++ Common Knowledge covers essential but commonly misunderstood topics in C++ programming and design while filtering out needless complexity in the discussion of each topic. What remains is a clear distillation of the essentials required for production C++ programming, presented in the author’s trademark incisive, engaging style.