Product Description
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL'99, held in Lochem, The Netherlands, in September 1999. The 11 revised full papers presented were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing. The papers are organized in sections on applications, compilation techniques, language concepts, and parallelism. ... Read more

Product Description
A programming course should concentrate on a program's logical structure and design rather than on simply writing code. The functional approach to programming achieves this aim because logical concepts are evident and programs are transparent, and so can be written quickly and cleanly. In this book, the authors emphasize the notions of function and relate programming to familiar concepts from mathematics and logic.They introduce functional programming via examples but also explain what programs compute and how to reason about them. They show how the ideas can be implemented in the Caml language, a dialect of the ML family, and give examples of how complex programs from a variety of areas (such as arithmetic, tree algorithms, graph algorithms, text parsing and geometry) can be developed in close agreement with their specifications. Many exercises and examples are included throughout the book; solutions are also available. An appendix gives all the code used in the book in Standard ML. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Top notch and high prerequisite book about functional programming in CAML
This is clearly a first class book. But if you want to `read' it, you should know in advance what you are doing. So what are the prerequisites? "The Functional Approach to Programming" is an excellent start to read. Is that enough? Well if you are very determined and willing to invest a lot of effort and pain probably yes. Readers, who just want the intellectual enjoyment and esprit of "Functional Approach to Programming", will need a more solid basis. Like medium programming experience in at least one functional language.
The book contains three parts:
(I) Basic principles
(II) Applications
(III) Implementation
`Basic principles starts' from the beginning and has in principle very little assumptions of further knowledge. The style is as elegant as in one of the great French mathematics books. In `Applications' one has the litmus test of understanding. Here the authors use the full power of the concepts demonstrated in the first part. It is dense, elegant and with very little redundancy. The last past gives you some ideas how CAML itself can be implemented.

Good on examples of the functional approach to algorithms
I have not much to add to the other two reviews.

I've read "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (SICP), and like many others found it one among the best if not *the best* computerbook I've ever read. I think that "The Functional Approach to Programming" differs a lot from SICP. This is not to say, that it's bad, rather that I think it's very different from SICP. Its focus is much more on semantics (ML of course, not Scheme), correctness (in the scientific sense) and algorithms.

It offers plenty on the functional approach to implementing algorithms like trees and sets. The semantics are elaborated in a clear and concise style, that I've been able to track even though I have no degree in computer science at all (I'm just an auto didact from "the street").

For someone not familiar with functional programming like me, I find this very good. I have a background in C, Java, C++ moving toward more highlevel languages like Scheme, Lisp, Ruby, SmallTalk and Python in the latter years.

It is very succinct with plenty of code examples like SICP. The code doesn't fill too much, since the functional style is a lot shorter for solving complex problems than the equavalent imperative program examples I've seen in C++ and Java. The focus is on the scientific correct thing to do, rather than a more ad hoc focus on "best practices" giving way to a more firm ground for choosing style and algorithms to solve a particular problem. The "best practices" are there of course, but in a transparent way, like small paradigms of code (somewhat like Peter Norvig's "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming - Case Studies in Common Lisp").

Just to make it clear: I don't think it's fair to compare it with SICP, although their subjects overlap somewhat. Its vocabulary differs significantly from both SICP and the terminology used in OO and Design Patterns land. This is bad in the sense in makes it unnecessary hard to learn the basics.

However, if you haven't dealt with functional programming before, you're of course going to encounter the usual paradigm shifting problems. I now find my self thinking a whole new and rather refreshing way about programs. It does pay off, even though it certainly helped that I had read SICP and a lot of articles on the subject at first.

Even if I'm never going to use functional programming in my professional life, I've now got a better grasp of algorithms -- what, when and how to use them. It's simply easier to reason about them using the functional approach.

By the way: The english translation *is* perfect.

Should you read it? I think you should, but prepare yourself to use some time to understand new concepts if you're not familiar with the nomenclature of the functional programming community. Even though it's not easy, I still think it pays off.

Great Book on Functional Programming
Functional programming requires a much different mindset than standard "procedural" languages such as C, Perl, Python, and others.This book does an excellent job of teaching the reader about theseconcepts.

The language of choice (CAML) used in this book requires someeffort to learn.Certain elements of its syntax are non-obvious, and theinternal type checking can be irritating until you learn that the rigorouschecks result in safer programs.(An interesting side-note is that OCaml,compiled to native code, is in most cases very nearly identical in speed tostraight C.Visit http://caml.inria.fr for details).

This is not an easybook.I found myself flipping to prior chapters to reread sections that Ithought I understood on the first pass, but had not.This is no fault ofthe author, but rather the of the unfamiliar nature of the territorycovered.

This book covers a lot of ground.As the other reviewerindicates, if you liked SICP, you will like this book.It covers a lot ofthe same ground, and provides an excellent grounding in various datastructures and so forth.

One final note.Although the book is atranslation from French, I found the english to be perfect.There were noslips into incorrect syntax or confusing idioms.My hat's off to theeditor/translator.

A wonderful introduction to (functional) programming
I read the french edition of that book and found it to be one of the best book about (functional) programming I know. The authors first quickly introduce the CAML language (an ML variant) and then proceed withreal-world examples. The reader will for example learn how to manipulatearbitrary-precision numbers, how to compile regular expressions or how tosolve some common games. If you've read and liked Abelson and Sussman's"Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", you'll likethat book too. I strongly recommend it to anybody interested in CAML orSML, or in functional programming. ... Read more

Product Description
This book constitutes the proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Programming Languages: Implementations, Logics and Programs, PLILP '95, held in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in September 1995. The book presents 26 refereed full papers selected from 84 submissions; they report research on declarative programming languages and provide insights in the relation between the logic of those languages, implementation techniques, and the use of these languages in constructing real programs. In addition there are abstracts or full presentations of three invited talks as well as eight posters and demonstrations. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a practical approach to understanding implementations of non-strict functional languages using lazy graph reduction. It is intended to be a source of practical laboratory work material and to help students to develop, modify and experiment with their own implementations. The emphasis lies on the building of working prototypes of several functional language implementations and in each case the approach is to give a complete working prototype of a particular implementation, then lead the reader through a sequence of improvements to expand its scope. The prototypes are expressed in the functional language Miranda and software is available in machine-readable form. ... Read more

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL 2002, held in Madrid, Spain in September 2002.

The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 25 submissions during two rounds of reviewing and revision. Among the topics addressed are language concepts, type checking, compilation techniques, abstract interpretation, automatic program generation, machine architecture, array processing, concurrent and parallel programming and program execution, heap management, runtime profiling and performance measurement, debugging and tracing, verification of functional programs, and tools and programming techniques. ... Read more

Product Description
Computational semantics is the art and science of computing meaning in natural language. The meaning of a sentence is derived from the meanings of the individual words in it, and this process can be made so precise that it can be implemented on a computer. Designed for students of linguistics, computer science, logic and philosophy, this comprehensive text shows how to compute meaning using the functional programming language Haskell. It deals with both denotational meaning (where meaning comes from knowing the conditions of truth in situations), and operational meaning (where meaning is an instruction for performing cognitive action). Including a discussion of recent developments in logic, it will be invaluable to linguistics students wanting to apply logic to their studies, logic students wishing to learn how their subject can be applied to linguistics, and functional programmers interested in natural language processing as a new application area. ... Read more

Product Description

Programming Languages: An Active Learning Approach introduces students to three programming paradigms: object-oriented/imperative languages using C++ and Ruby, functional languages using Standard ML, and logic programming using Prolog. This interactive textbook is intended to be used in and outside of class. Each chapter follows a pattern of presenting a topic followed by a practice exercise or exercises that encourage students to try what they have just read. This textbook is best-suited for students with a 2-3 course introduction to imperative programming.

Key Features: (1) Accessible structure guides the student through various programming languages. (2) Seamlessly integrated practice exercises. (3) Classroom-tested. (4) Online support materials.

Advance praise:
“The Programming Languages book market is overflowing with books, but none like this. In many ways, it is precisely the book I have been searching for to use in my own programming languages course. One of the main challenges I perpetually face is how to teach students to program in functional and logical languages, but also how to teach them about compilers. This book melds the two approaches very well.” -- David Musicant, Carleton College

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 15th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL 2003, held in Edinburgh, UK in September 2003.

Product Description
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL 2001, held in Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. The eleven revised full papers presented have gone through a thorough round of post-workshop reviewing and were selected from 28 workshop papers. Among the topics covered are relevant aspects of implementing and using functional languages, such as type systems, compilation, program optimization, theorem proving, program correctness, program analysis, parallel compilers, subtyping, and generic programming. ... Read more

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 18th International Workshop on Implementation and Applications of Functional Languages, IFL 2006, held in Budapest, Hungary, in September 2006.

The 15 revised full papers presented went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement and were selected from 40 workshop presentations. The papers address all current theoretical and methodological issues on functional and function-based languages such as language concepts, concurrent/parallel programming, type checking, concurrent/parallel program execution, compilation techniques, heap management, generic programming techniques, runtime profiling, (abstract) interpretation, performance measurements, automatic program generation, debugging and tracing, (abstract) machine architectures, verification, formal aspects, tools and programming techniques, array processing and demos of well working, useable tools and applications in functional languages.

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 17th International Workshop on Implementation and Applications of Functional Languages, IFL 2005, held in Dublin, Ireland in September 2005.

The 13 revised full papers presented went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement and were selected from an initial total of 32 workshop presentations. Ranging from theoretical and methodological topics to implementation issues and applications in various contexts, the papers address all current issues on functional and function-based languages.

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 16th International Workshop on Implementation and Applications of Functional Languages, IFL 2004, held in Lübeck, Germany in September 2004.

The 13 revised full papers presented went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement and were selected from an initial total of 40 workshop presentations. The papers address current issues on functional and function-based languages, ranging from theoretical and methodological topics to implementation issues and applications in various contexts.

Product Description
Describes different ways of implementing functional programming languages which bear a strong family resemblance to one another, and which all have their origins in the work of Turner on combinator-based graph-reducers. First chapters cover translation of Lipskit into combinatory logic, and evaluation of the resulting object code by graph-reduction. Later chapters follow a natural progression, refining and improving the efficiency of this implementation. ... Read more

Product Description
Post-proceedings of the 12th Intl Workshop on Implementing Functional Languages, IFL 2000, held in Aachen, Germany in September 2000. Softcover. ... Read more

Product Description
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL'97, held in St. Andrews, Scotland, UK, in September 1997. The 21 revised full papers presented were selected from the 34 papers accepted for presentation at the workshop during a second round of thorough a-posteriori reviewing. The book is divided in sections on compilation, types, benchmarking and profiling, parallelism, interaction, language design, and garbage collection. ... Read more

Product Description
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL'98, held in London, UK, in September 1998. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing. The volume covers a wide range of topics including parallel process organization, parallel profiling, compilation and semantics of parallel systems, programming methodology, interrupt handling, strictness analysis, concurrency and message passing, and inter-language working. ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains the strictly refereed post-workshop proceedings originating from the 8th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, held in Bad Godesberg, Germany, in September 1996. The 15 thoroughly revised full papers presented were selected after a second round of reviewing from the 26 contributions accepted for presentation at the workshop. Also included is an overview by the volume editor. The volume addresses various implementational issues of functional languages including parallel implementations, language concepts and design, type systems, interpretation and compilation techniques, automatic program generation, concurrent processing, machine architectures, runtime profiling and application programming. ... Read more