Programming Languages History And Fundamentals

Monograph comprising fundamental information on the history and characteristics of approximately 120 programming languages for computer usage - covers technical aspects, language structure, etc. Bibliography at the end of each chapter.

History of Programming Languages presents information pertinent to the technical aspects of the language design and creation. This book provides an understanding of the processes of language design as related to the environment in which languages are developed and the knowledge base available to the originators. Organized into 14 sections encompassing 77 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the programming techniques to use to help the system produce efficient programs. This text then discusses how to use parentheses to help the system identify identical subexpressions within an expression and thereby eliminate their duplicate calculation. Other chapters consider FORTRAN programming techniques needed to produce optimum object programs. This book discusses as well the developments leading to ALGOL 60. The final chapter presents the biography of Adin D. Falkoff. This book is a valuable resource for graduate students, practitioners, historians, statisticians, mathematicians, programmers, as well as computer scientists and specialists.

" .. .1 always worked with programming languages because it seemed to me that until you could understand those, you really couldn't understand computers. Understanding them doesn't really mean only being able to use them. A lot of people can use them without understanding them." Christopher Strachey The development of programming languages is one of the finest intellectual achievements of the new discipline called Computer Science. And yet, there is no other subject that I know of, that has such emotionalism and mystique associated with it. Thus, my attempt to write about this highly charged subject is taken with a good deal of in my role as professor I have felt the need for a caution. Nevertheless, modern treatment of this subject. Traditional books on programming languages are like abbreviated language manuals, but this book takes a fundamentally different point of view. I believe that the best possible way to study and understand today's programming languages is by focusing on a few essential concepts. These concepts form the outline for this book and include such topics as variables, expressions, statements, typing, scope, procedures, data types, exception handling and concurrency. By understanding what these concepts are and how they are realized in different programming languages, one arrives at a level of comprehension far greater than one gets by writing some programs in a xii Preface few languages. Moreover, knowledge of these concepts provides a framework for understanding future language designs.

Written in an informal yet informative style, Programming Language Fundamentals by Example uses active learning techniques, giving students a professional learning experience based on professional methods applied with professional standards. It provides an understanding of the many languages and notations used in computer science, the formal models

A new edition of a textbook that provides students with a deep, working understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages, completely revised, with significant new material. 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.

From the first digital computer to the dot-com crash—a story of individuals, institutions, and the forces that led to a series of dramatic transformations. This engaging history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the dot-com crash. The author concentrates on five key moments of transition: the transformation of the computer in the late 1940s from a specialized scientific instrument to a commercial product; the emergence of small systems in the late 1960s; the beginning of personal computing in the 1970s; the spread of networking after 1985; and, in a chapter written for this edition, the period 1995-2001. The new material focuses on the Microsoft antitrust suit, the rise and fall of the dot-coms, and the advent of open source software, particularly Linux. Within the chronological narrative, the book traces several overlapping threads: the evolution of the computer's internal design; the effect of economic trends and the Cold War; the long-term role of IBM as a player and as a target for upstart entrepreneurs; the growth of software from a hidden element to a major character in the story of computing; and the recurring issue of the place of information and computing in a democratic society. The focus is on the United States (though Europe and Japan enter the story at crucial points), on computing per se rather than on applications such as artificial intelligence, and on systems that were sold commercially and installed in quantities.

This book unifies a broad range of programming language concepts under the framework of type systems and structural operational semantics.