Introduction to Functional Programming Systems Using Haskell (Cambridge Computer Science Texts) [Paperback]

Antony J. T. Davie (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521277248 | ISBN-13: 978-0521277242 | Publication Date: June 26, 1992

Functional programming, is a style of programming that has become increasingly popular during the past few years. Applicative programs have the advantage of being almost immediately expressible as functional descriptions; they can be proved correct and transformed through the referential transparency property. This book presents the basic concepts of functional programming, using the language HASKELL for examples. The author incorporates a discussion of lambda calculus and its relationship with HASKELL, exploring the implications for parallelism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a very readable and understandable introduction to functional programming. It provides many concrete programming examples written in Haskell and discusses several design principles that seem to be unique to functional programming. I would recommend this book to all professional software developers for its discussion of software design using higher-order functions and streams. The book is perfect for an undergraduate course on functional programming. Haskell compilers are available from the research community, so students can get hands-on experience. Graduate students should be able to read this book on their own for an introduction to functional programming, the lambda calculus, polymorphic types, and combinatory logic." Reginald Meeson, ACM SIGPLAN Notices

Book Description

The basic concepts of applicative programming are presented using the language HASKELL for examples. In addition to exploring the implications for parallelism, a discussion of lamda calculus and its relationship with SASL is included.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 26, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521277248
• ISBN-13: 978-0521277242
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction, January 29, 2007

By 

D. Grady (Oak Ridge, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Functional Programming Systems Using Haskell (Cambridge Computer Science Texts) (Hardcover)

Davie's book is aptly named; although he briefly outlines the important syntax of the Haskell language, this is not intended to be "How to Program in Haskell." This book is an introduction to the ideas of functional languages rather than a tutorial on the nuts and bolts of programming. As a result, many of the techniques of programming in Haskell are presented, but in the broader context of his explanation of functional programming rather than in the more narrow, "In Haskell, you must do x and y to accomplish z" sense. I thought that this was very effective; although I have used functional programming systems in the past this was the first time I had read a clear presentation of their theory and history. Parts of the book are very dense and make for heavy going, but overall I think Davie has done a very good job of introducing the reader to the idea of a functional programming language.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An great second book for students of Haskell, October 4, 2008

By 

Samuel Danielson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to Functional Programming Systems Using Haskell (Cambridge Computer Science Texts) (Paperback)

Conceptually the content of this book can be divided into three major sections. The first is a well constructed overview of Haskell which, though not suitable as a primary tutorial, is organized in a building block style that clearly explains the core concepts of the language and their syntax. Examples are of minimal complexity and fit each purpose well while remaining free of yet unintroduced material. The other two sections, theory and implementation, are interleaved to present the material in a constructive way. The introduction to lambda calculus marks the first deviation from a pragmatic study of Haskell, however, proofs are largely omitted leaving mostly definitions, relevant theorems, and explanations. This book served as my introduction to lambda calculus and I found it somewhere between impenetrable and relaxing, which is to say that it was very helpful despite requiring a second read. The chapter closes with a desugaring of Haskell into the simpler constructs of lambda calculus. Next the properties of applicative languages are studied and implemented (in Haskell) on a SECD machine. Then lazy evaluation is studied and techniques of implementation such as SECD, graph reduction, SKI-combinators, and the G-Machine are covered. Following this is an overview of program transformations and optimizations with a brief summary of ongoing work in the field. The three conceptual topics; language, theory, and implementation are covered uniformly so there is a decreasing completeness to the Haskell presentations as abstractions pile up e.g. there is no concrete implementation of lazy evaluation. Instead the operation of machines is described with graphics or combinators in the notation of lambda calculus. This book covers implementation adequate for an intermediate command of Haskell while serving as an excellent introduction to the theory behind functional programming.

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good introductory book, May 6, 2011

By 

Bharath Mukundakrishnan (Sunnyvale, CA, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Introduction to Functional Programming Systems Using Haskell (Cambridge Computer Science Texts) (Paperback)

This had some pseudo code but explanations are lucid and excellent. A real good introductory book explaining concepts which is the approach I take when I learn.