Elements of Functional Programming (International Computer Science Series) [Hardcover]

Chris Reade (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1989 | ISBN-10: 0201129159 | ISBN-13: 978-0201129151

This book gives a lucid and thorough account of the concepts and techniques used in modern functional programming languages. Standard ML is used for notation, but the examples can be easily adapted to other functional languages. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduate or graduate level students who are familiar with another high-level language and discrete mathematics. It will also be invaluable to professional programmers who wish to explore the new possibilities opened up by functional programming.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley (April 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201129159
• ISBN-13: 978-0201129151
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,104,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a great book on functional programming...., October 22, 2000

By 

Ronald J. Legere (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elements of Functional Programming (International Computer Science Series) (Hardcover)

This book is one of the most complete references on functional programming out there. At least that you can buy.. there are others that are out of print and darn hard to get. This book contains enough material to take you from absolute beginner to writing your very own interpreters and compilers (including a nice discussion of the SECD machine... dont worry if you dont know what that is though :) . )

If you dont know what functional programming is, read Hudak's book "School of Expression". If you do, read this one to learn more..

This book uses SML instead of Haskell, but then again it was written a while ago, and there is nothing wrong with learning something new (or old...). Even though SML is an eagerly evaluated language, this book discusses lazy versions as well, including some issues with I/O. (Again dont worry if that last bit didnt mean anything to you, these things are described well in the book.. thats where I learned them from!)

Cheers!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on functional programming, April 18, 2006

By 

Avinash Meetoo (Mauritius, Indian Ocean) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elements of Functional Programming (International Computer Science Series) (Hardcover)

Functional programming is very powerful. Now that many popular programming languages are functional (like Ruby or Python and even C++ with functors), a good programmer needs to be conversant with the main concepts.

This book is a very good introduction to what makes FP powerful (ex. higher-order programming, symbolic processing, lazy evaluation, powerful typing systems, etc)