Ocaml From The Very Beginning

In OCaml from the Very Beginning John Whitington takes a no-prerequisites approach to teaching a modern general-purpose programming language. Each small, self-contained chapter introduces a new topic, building until the reader can write quite substantial programs. There are plenty of questions and, crucially, worked answers and hints. OCaml from the Very Beginning will appeal both to new programmers, and experienced programmers eager to explore functional languages such as OCaml. It is suitable both for formal use within an undergraduate or graduate curriculum, and for the interested amateur.

This fast-moving tutorial introduces you to OCaml, an industrial-strength programming language designed for expressiveness, safety, and speed. Through the book’s many examples, you’ll quickly learn how OCaml stands out as a tool for writing fast, succinct, and readable systems code. Real World OCaml takes you through the concepts of the language at a brisk pace, and then helps you explore the tools and techniques that make OCaml an effective and practical tool. In the book’s third section, you’ll delve deep into the details of the compiler toolchain and OCaml’s simple and efficient runtime system. Learn the foundations of the language, such as higher-order functions, algebraic data types, and modules Explore advanced features such as functors, first-class modules, and objects Leverage Core, a comprehensive general-purpose standard library for OCaml Design effective and reusable libraries, making the most of OCaml’s approach to abstraction and modularity Tackle practical programming problems from command-line parsing to asynchronous network programming Examine profiling and interactive debugging techniques with tools such as GNU gdb

In Haskell from the Very Beginning John Whitington takes a no-prerequisites approach to teaching the basics of a modern general-purpose programming language. Each small, self-contained chapter introduces a new topic, building until the reader can write quite substantial programs. There are plenty of questions and, crucially, worked answers and hints. Haskell from the Very Beginning will appeal both to new programmers, and to experienced programmers eager to explore functional languages such as Haskell. It is suitable both for formal use within an undergraduate or graduate curriculum, and for the interested amateur.

In More OCaml John Whitington takes a meandering tour of functional programming with OCaml, introducing various language features and describing some classic algorithms. The book ends with a large worked example dealing with the production of PDF files. There are questions for each chapter together with worked answers and hints. More OCaml will appeal both to existing OCaml programmers who wish to brush up their skills, and to experienced programmers eager to explore functional languages such as OCaml. It is hoped that each reader will find something new, or see an old thing in a new light. For the more casual reader, or those who are used to a different functional language, a summary of basic OCaml is provided at the front of the book.

How do we decide where to put ink on a page to draw letters and pictures? How can computers represent all the world’s languages and writing systems? What exactly is a computer program, what and how does it calculate, and how can we build one? Can we compress information to make it easier to store and quicker to transmit? How do newspapers print photographs with grey tones using just black ink and white paper? How are paragraphs laid out automatically on a page and split across multiple pages? In A Machine Made this Book, using examples from the publishing industry, John Whitington introduces the fascinating discipline of Computer Science to the uninitiated.

In Python from the Very Beginning John Whitington takes a no-prerequisites approach to teaching the basics of a modern general-purpose programming language. Each small, self-contained chapter introduces a new topic, building until the reader can write quite substantial programs. There are plenty of questions and, crucially, worked answers and hints. Python from the Very Beginning will appeal both to new programmers, and to experienced programmers eager to explore functional languages such as Haskell. It is suitable both for formal use within an undergraduate or graduate curriculum, and for the interested amateur.

At last, here’s an approachable introduction to the widely used Portable Document Format. PDFs are everywhere, both online and in printed form, but few people take advantage of the useful features or grasp the nuances of this format. This concise book provides a hands-on tour of the world’s leading page-description language for programmers, power users, and professionals in the search, electronic publishing, and printing industries. Illustrated with lots of examples, this book is the documentation you need to fully understand PDF. Build a simple PDF file from scratch in a text editor Learn the layout and content of a PDF file, as well as the syntax of its objects Examine the logical structure of PDF objects, and learn how pages and their resources are arranged into a document Create vector graphics and raster images in PDF, and deal with transparency, color spaces, and patterns Explore PDF operators for building and showing text strings Get up to speed on bookmarks, metadata, hyperlinks, annotations, and file attachments Learn how encryption and document permissions work in PDF Use the pdftk program to process PDF files from the command line