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.

" .. .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 caution. Nevertheless, in my role as Professor I have felt the need for a 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 vi vB Preface few languages. Moreover, knowledge of these concepts provides a framework for understanding future language designs.

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.

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.

Programming Language Explorations helps its readers gain proficiency in programming language practice and theory by presenting both example-focused, chapter-length explorations of fourteen important programming languages and detailed discussions of the major concepts transcending multiple languages. A language-by-language approach is sandwiched between an introductory chapter that motivates and lays out the major concepts of the field and a final chapter that brings together all that was learned in the middle chapters into a coherent and organized view of the field. Each of the featured languages in the middle chapters is introduced with a common trio of example programs and followed by a tour of its basic language features and coverage of interesting aspects from its type system, functional forms, scoping rules, concurrency patterns, and metaprogramming facilities. These chapters are followed by a brief tour of over 40 additional languages designed to enhance the reader’s appreciation of the breadth of the programming language landscape and to motivate further study. Targeted to both professionals and advanced college undergraduates looking to expand the range of languages and programming patterns they can apply in their work and studies, the book pays attention to modern programming practices, keeps a focus on cutting-edge programming patterns, and provides many runnable examples, all of which are available in the book’s companion GitHub repository. The combination of conceptual overviews with exploratory example-focused coverage of individual programming languages provides its readers with the foundation for more effectively authoring programs, prompting AI programming assistants, and, perhaps most importantly, learning—and creating—new languages.

This textbook is a thorough, up-to-date introduction to the principles and techniques that guide the design and implementation of modern programming languages. The goal of the book is to provide the basis for a critical understanding of most modern programming languages. Thus, rather than focusing on a specific language, the book identifies the most important principles shared by large classes of languages. The notion of ‘abstract machine’ is a unifying concept that helps to maintain an accurate and elementary treatment. The book introduces, analyses in depth, and compares the imperative, object-oriented, functional, logic, concurrent, constraint-based, and service-oriented programming paradigms. All material coming from the first English edition has been updated and extended, clarifying some tricky points, and discussing newer programming languages. This second edition contains new chapters dedicated to constraint, concurrent, and service-oriented programming. Topics and features: Requires familiarity with one programming language is a prerequisite Provides a chapter on history offering context for most of the constructs in use today Presents an elementary account of semantical approaches and of computability Introduces new examples in modern programming languages like Python or Scala Offers a chapter that opens a perspective on applications in artificial intelligence Conceived as a university textbook, this unique volume will also be suitable for IT specialists who want to deepen their knowledge of the mechanisms behind the languages they use. The choice of themes and the presentation style are largely influenced by the experience of teaching the content as part of a bachelor's degree in computer science.

The earth, viewed through the window of an airplane, shows a regularity and reptition of features, for example, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, and forests. Nevertheless, there is great local variation; Vermont does not look like Utah. Similarly, if we rise above the details of a few programming languages, we can discern features that are common to many languages. This is the programming language landscape; the main features include variables, types, control structures, and input/output. Again, there is local variation; Pascal does not look like Basic. This work is a broad and comprehensive discussion of the principal features of the major programming languages. A Study of Concepts The text surveys the landscape of programming languages and its features. Each chapter concentrates on a single language concept. A simple model of the feature, expressed as a mini-language, is presented. This allows us to study an issue in depth and relative isolation. Each chapter concludes with a discussion of the way in which the concept is incorporated into some well-known languages. This permits a reasonably complete coverage of language issues.

Programming Language Structures deals with the structures of programming languages and introduces the reader to five important programming languages: Algol, Fortran, Lisp, Snobol, and Pascal. The fundamental similarities and differences among these languages are discussed. A unifying framework is constructed that can be used to study the structure of other languages, such as Cobol, PL/I, and APL. Several of the tools and methodologies needed to construct large programs are also considered. Comprised of 10 chapters, this book begins with a summary of the relevant concepts and principles about algorithms, flowcharts, and computation that a student is expected to know from the first course. The discussion then turns to the semantics of procedure and function call as well as argument-parameter matching with various kinds of parameters; recursion and its relation to tree traversal; syntax formalism for context-free languages; and ALGOL 60 and block structuring. Case study programs are presented to reinforce the reader's understanding of ALGOL 60 and Fortran semantics. The remaining chapters deal with Lisp, Snobol, and Pascal. This monograph is intended for working programmers and students in computer science who have an interest in the subject of programming.

Surveying the major programming languages that have hallmarked the evolution of computing, Programming Language Fundamentals by Example provides an understanding of the many languages and notations used in computer science, the formal models used to design phases, and the foundations of languages including linguistics. This textbook guides students through the process of implementing a simple interpreter with case-based exercises, questions, and a semester-long project that encompasses all of the concepts and theories presented in the book into one concrete example. It covers also such topics as formal grammars, automata, denotational and axiomatic semantics, and rule-based presentation.