Essentials of Programming Languages [Hardcover]

Daniel P. Friedman (Author), Mitchell Wand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0262062798 | ISBN-13: 978-0262062794 | Edition: third edition

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.Daniel P. Friedman is Professor of Computer Science at Indiana University and is the author of many books published by The MIT Press, including The Little Schemer (fourth edition, 1995), The Seasoned Schemer (1995), A Little Java, A Few Patterns (1997), each of these coauthored with Matthias Felleisen, and The Reasoned Schemer (2005), coauthored with William E. Byrd and Oleg Kiselyov. Mitchell Wand is Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I've found the interpreters-based approach for teaching programming languages to be both compelling and rewarding for my students. Exposing students to the revelation that an interpreter for a programming language is itself just another program opens up a world of possibilities for problem-solving. The third edition of Essentials of Programming Languages makes this approach of writing interpreters more accessible than ever."--Marc L. Smith, Department of Computer Science, Vassar College

"Having taught from EOPL for several years, I appreciate the way it producesstudents who understand the terminology and concepts of programminglanguages in a deep way, not just from reading about the concepts, but fromprogramming them and experimenting with them. This new edition has anincreased emphasis on types as contracts for defining procedure interfaces,which is quite important for many students. This new emphasis meshes wellwith the way the domains and operations of the interpreters are described."--Gary T. Leavens, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,University of Central Florida

(Gary Leavens )

"With lucid prose and elegant code, this book provides the most concrete introduction to the few building blocks that give rise to a wide variety of programming languages. I recommend it to my students and look forward to using it in my courses."--Chung-chieh Shan, Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University

(Chung-Chieh Shan )

"Having taught from EOPL for several years, I appreciate the way it produces students who understand the terminology and concepts of programming languages in a deep way, not just from reading about the concepts, but from programming them and experimenting with them. This new edition has an increased emphasis on types as contracts for defining procedure interfaces, which is quite important for many students." Gary T. Leavens , School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida

"With lucid prose and elegant code, this book provides the most concrete introduction to the few building blocks that give rise to a wide variety of programming languages. I recommend it to my students and look forward to using it in my courses." Chung-chieh Shan , Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University

About the Author

Daniel P. Friedman is Professor of Computer Science at Indiana University and is the author of many books published by the MIT Press, including The Little Schemer (fourth edition, 1995), The Seasoned Schemer (1995), A Little Java, A Few Patterns (1997), each of these coauthored with Matthias Felleisen, and The Reasoned Schemer (2005), coauthored with William E. Byrd and Oleg Kiselyov.

Mitchell Wand is Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; third edition edition (April 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262062798
• ISBN-13: 978-0262062794
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm going back to the 2nd Edition October 14, 2009

By Simon D. Levy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

For several years I've taught an advanced undergraduate programming language course using the second edition of this book. Now I think I see why it's priced at $60, and the third edition is only $44. The third edition loses the simplicity and elegance of the second, replacing it with unnecessary abstraction and complexity (expressed versus denoted values), and treating the fun, hands-on part (implementation in Scheme) almost as an afterthought.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book March 14, 2009

By G. Sarria

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've taught fundamentals of programming languages, a course for 2nd year undergraduate students, using this book and it's been a success. The reader must know how to program in order to understand the book, I accept that, but the idea of teaching the basis of programming languages by creating one is great. Additionally, the use of Scheme as a language for developing is crucial.
On the other hand, the quality of the book and the paper are good. It has a lot of very decent exercises and the subjects are well-explained.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference March 27, 2011

By Alexander J. Mullans

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had to buy this book for a class, but it's definitely been worth the investment and it's probably one I'll keep after the class is over. Friedman does a great job of relating the concepts covered in the book to examples written in Scheme.