Elements of ML Programming, ML97 Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

by Jeffrey D. Ullman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Written by a well-known computer science education and researcher. No previous knowledge of ML or functional programming is assumed. This is the first book that offers BOTH a highly accessible, step-by-step introductory tutorial on ML programming and a complete reference to, and explanation of, advanced features. The author uses a wide variety of digestible program examples to bring the reader along at a reasonable pace. More sophisticated programs and advanced concept topics balance out a book that is usable in a number of courses and settings for either self-study or class discussion.

From the Publisher
Written by a well-known computer science education and researcher. No previous knowledge of ML or functional programming is assumed. This is the first book that offers BOTH a highly accessible, step-by-step introductory tutorial on ML programming and a complete reference to, and explanation of, advanced features. The author uses a wide variety of digestible program examples to bring the student along at a reasonable pace. More sophisticated programs and advanced concept topics balance out a book that is usable in a number of courses and settings for either self-study or class discussion. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 383 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137903871
• ISBN-13: 978-0137903870
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #475,641 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Academic? Yes, but that's a good thing, January 17, 2005

By	Christopher Brown (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

I appreciate the consistency of exposition, especially when explaining recursion of execution and recursive datatypes using basis and induction cases. It's a book for those who are interested in the crossover between CS theory and mathematics, but only introductory calculus is necessary (and that's only in one section). If you come from a procedural programming background, as I did, this book is an excellent introduction to the techniques of functional programming. I would recommend reading this in conjunction with ML for the Working Programmer by Paulson. If you are looking for a gentler introduction to functional languages, like LISP and its sister Scheme, try The Little Schemer by Friedman and Felleisen.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and enjoyable., January 23, 1998

By	[e-mail] (chelmsford, ma) - See all my reviews

Although this is an introductory book, I also recommend it to advanced programmers. Concise and well written, it is a joy to read. Programmers who have little knowledge of modern functional languages will benefit immensely from this book. It is a great recreational read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro book., March 10, 2007

By	Sean Fritz (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Examples and exposition are overall great. Jokes are clever and the tone is light through the book. It reads much like the Perl book by Lary Wall. It hits topics a bit slower than SICP. The biggest problem with this book is it left me felling "Ok, I know the syntax/semantics, now what?" This is a common problem with intro to programming books, and I don't fault it too much for that.

The biggest weakness of this book in my opinion is it didn't strongly teach a "style" that I can adopt into my own programs (but then, no FP programming book I've ever read does). It did great teaching functional programming, but as with most intro-to-fp books forgot that real programs don't fit in one file and are several thousand lines of code.

Sean