Advanced Programming Language Design / Edition 1

Written for the student or professional interested in programming language design, this new book examines a wide range of programming language paradigms and issues. Author Raphael Finkel, University of Kentucky, intersperses the discussion of these models with in-depth coverage of the key languages to reinforce them. Finkel begins his presentation with control structures and types, and then introduces the reader to seven programming paradigms: imperative, functional, object-oriented, dataflow, concurrent, logic, and aggregate-based. He concludes the book with a discussion of formal syntax and semantics. The author integrates this range of material by developing several themes, including the interplay between what can be done at compile time and what must be deferred to runtime; how patterns and pattern matching play a large role in programming languages; and the quest for uniformity seen in polymorphism. Written in a conversational style, this book challenges and encourages readers to launch into their own research in the field.