An introduction to the Racket functional programming language and DrRacket development environment to explore topics in mathematics (mostly recreational) and computer science. At last, a lively guided tour through all the features, functions, and applications of the Racket programming language. You'll learn a variety of coding paradigms, including iterative, object oriented, and logic programming; create interactive graphics, draw diagrams, and solve puzzles as you explore Racket through fun computer science topics--from statistical analysis to search algorithms, the Turing machine, and more. Early chapters cover basic Racket concepts like data types, syntax, variables, strings, and formatted output. You'll learn how to perform math in Racket's rich numerical environment, and use programming constructs in different problem domains (like coding solutions to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle). Later, you'll play with plotting, grapple with graphics, and visualize data. Then, you'll escape the confines of the command line to produce animations, interactive games, and a card trick program that'll dazzle your friends. You'll learn how to: Use DrRacket, an interactive development environment (IDE) for writing programs Compute classical math problems, like the Fibonacci sequence Generate two-dimensional function plots and create drawings using graphics primitives Import and export data to and from Racket using ports, then visually analyze it Build simple computing devices (pushdown automaton, Turing machine, and so on) that perform tasks Leverage Racket's built-in libraries to develop a command line algebraic calculator Racket Programming the Fun Way is just like the language itself--an embodiment of everything that makes programming interesting and worthwhile, and that makes you a better programmer.

Racket is a descendant of Lisp, a programming language renowned for its elegance, power, and challenging learning curve. But while Racket retains the functional goodness of Lisp, it was designed with beginning programmers in mind. Realm of Racket is your introduction to the Racket language. In Realm of Racket, you'll learn to program by creating increasingly complex games. Your journey begins with the Guess My Number game and coverage of some basic Racket etiquette. Next you'll dig into syntax and semantics, lists, structures, and conditionals, and learn to work with recursion and the GUI as you build the Robot Snake game. After that it's on to lambda and mutant structs (and an Orc Battle), and fancy loops and the Dice of Doom. Finally, you'll explore laziness, AI, distributed games, and the Hungry Henry game. As you progress through the games, chapter checkpoints and challenges help reinforce what you've learned. Offbeat comics keep things fun along the way. As you travel through the Racket realm, you'll: –Master the quirks of Racket's syntax and semantics –Learn to write concise and elegant functional programs –Create a graphical user interface using the 2htdp/image library –Create a server to handle true multiplayer games Realm of Racket is a lighthearted guide to some serious programming. Read it to see why Racketeers have so much fun!

A completely revised edition, offering new design recipes for interactive programs and support for images as plain values, testing, event-driven programming, and even distributed programming. This introduction to programming places computer science at the core of a liberal arts education. Unlike other introductory books, it focuses on the program design process, presenting program design guidelines that show the reader how to analyze a problem statement, how to formulate concise goals, how to make up examples, how to develop an outline of the solution, how to finish the program, and how to test it. Because learning to design programs is about the study of principles and the acquisition of transferable skills, the text does not use an off-the-shelf industrial language but presents a tailor-made teaching language. For the same reason, it offers DrRacket, a programming environment for novices that supports playful, feedback-oriented learning. The environment grows with readers as they master the material in the book until it supports a full-fledged language for the whole spectrum of programming tasks. This second edition has been completely revised. While the book continues to teach a systematic approach to program design, the second edition introduces different design recipes for interactive programs with graphical interfaces and batch programs. It also enriches its design recipes for functions with numerous new hints. Finally, the teaching languages and their IDE now come with support for images as plain values, testing, event-driven programming, and even distributed programming.

Lisp has been hailed as the world’s most powerful programming language, but its cryptic syntax and academic reputation can be enough to scare off even experienced programmers. Those dark days are finally over—Land of Lisp brings the power of functional programming to the people! With his brilliantly quirky comics and out-of-this-world games, longtime Lisper Conrad Barski teaches you the mysteries of Common Lisp. You’ll start with the basics, like list manipulation, I/O, and recursion, then move on to more complex topics like macros, higher order programming, and domain-specific languages. Then, when your brain overheats, you can kick back with an action-packed comic book interlude! Along the way you’ll create (and play) games like Wizard Adventure, a text adventure with a whiskey-soaked twist, and Grand Theft Wumpus, the most violent version of Hunt the Wumpus the world has ever seen. You'll learn to: –Master the quirks of Lisp’s syntax and semantics –Write concise and elegant functional programs –Use macros, create domain-specific languages, and learn other advanced Lisp techniques –Create your own web server, and use it to play browser-based games –Put your Lisp skills to the test by writing brain-melting games like Dice of Doom and Orc Battle With Land of Lisp, the power of functional programming is yours to wield.

* Treats LISP as a language for commercial applications, not a language for academic AI concerns. This could be considered to be a secondary text for the Lisp course that most schools teach . This would appeal to students who sat through a LISP course in college without quite getting it – so a "nostalgia" approach, as in "wow-lisp can be practical..." * Discusses the Lisp programming model and environment. Contains an introduction to the language and gives a thorough overview of all of Common Lisp’s main features. * Designed for experienced programmers no matter what languages they may be coming from and written for a modern audience—programmers who are familiar with languages like Java, Python, and Perl. * Includes several examples of working code that actually does something useful like Web programming and database access.

A first programming course should not be directed towards learning a particular programming language, but rather at learning to program well; the programming language should get out of the way and serve this goal. The simple, powerful Racket language (related to Scheme) allows us to concentrate on the fundamental concepts and techniques of computer programming, without being distracted by complex syntax. As a result, this book can be used at the high school (and perhaps middle school) level, while providing enough advanced concepts not usually found in a first course to challenge a college student. Those who have already done some programming (e.g. in Java, Python, or C++) will enhance their understanding of the fundamentals, un-learn some bad habits, and change the way they think about programming. We take a graphics-early approach: you'll start manipulating and combining graphic images from Chapter 1 and writing event-driven GUI programs from Chapter 6, even before seeing arithmetic. We continue using graphics, GUI and game programming throughout to motivate fundamental concepts. At the same time, we emphasize data types, testing, and a concrete, step-by-step process of problem-solving. After working through this book, you'll be prepared to learn other programming languages and program well in them. Or, if this is the last programming course you ever take, you'll understand many of the issues that affect the programs you use every day. I have been using Picturing Programs with my daughter, and there's no doubt that it's gentler than Htdp. It does exactly what Stephen claims, which is to move gradually from copy-and-change exercises to think-on-your-own exercises within each section. I also think it's nice that the "worked exercises" are clearly labeled as such. There's something psychologically appealing about the fact that you first see an example in the text of the book, and then a similar example is presented as if it were an exercise but they just happen to be giving away the answer. It is practically shouting out "Here's a model of how you go about solving this class of problems, pay close attention ."" Mark Engelberg "1. Matthias & team have done exceptional, highly impressive work with HtDP. The concepts are close to genius. (perhaps yes, genius quality work) They are a MUST for any high school offering serious introductory CS curriculum. 2. Without Dr. Blochs book "Picturing Programs," I would not have successfully implemented these concepts (Dr. Scheme, Racket, Design Recipe etc) into an ordinary High School Classroom. Any high school instructor who struggles to find ways to bring these great HtDP ideas to the typical high schooler, should immediately investigate the Bloch book. Think of it as coating the castor oil with chocolate." Brett Penza

Ruby is famous for being easy to learn, but most users only scratch the surface of what it can do. While other books focus on Ruby's trendier features, The Book of Ruby reveals the secret inner workings of one of the world's most popular programming languages, teaching you to write clear, maintainable code. You'll start with the basics—types, data structures, and control flows—and progress to advanced features like blocks, mixins, metaclasses, and beyond. Rather than bog you down with a lot of theory, The Book of Ruby takes a hands-on approach and focuses on making you productive from day one. As you follow along, you’ll learn to: –Leverage Ruby's succinct and flexible syntax to maximize your productivity –Balance Ruby's functional, imperative, and object-oriented features –Write self-modifying programs using dynamic programming techniques –Create new fibers and threads to manage independent processes concurrently –Catch and recover from execution errors with robust exception handling –Develop powerful web applications with the Ruby on Rails framework Each chapter includes a "Digging Deeper" section that shows you how Ruby works under the hood, so you'll never be caught off guard by its deceptively simple scoping, multithreading features, or precedence rules. Whether you're new to programming or just new Ruby, The Book of Ruby is your guide to rapid, real-world software development with this unique and elegant language.