Programming Language Concepts

Even though this book was published ten years ago, it has aged very well. This is due to the presentation of general rather than specific concepts, where the general is still applicable. The presentation begins with the syntax and semantics of the basic operations that computers perform. Topics such as binding, l-values, r-values, routines, nesting, recursion and dynamic allocation are covered in chapter 2. Chapter 3 is called "Structuring the data" and describes the internal representations of types like sets, enumerated types and abstract data types. Pointers and garbage collection are also examined. Chapter four covers the control constructs, exception handling and the tactics used to manage concurrent computations. In chapter 5, the topics are how a program is structured and organized into modules, how data is encapsulated in classes and the use if generic structures. The topic of chapter 6 is object-oriented programming and the topic of chapter 7 is functional programming. Finally, the topic of the eighth and last chapter is logic programming and it is demonstrated using PROLOG. While I doubt that I would use this book as the text for my class in programming languages, it would not be rejected due to age or archaic coverage. The decision would be based on the fact that dealing with specifics is an integral part of the course.

This is a good book to know Syntax and Symantics, Structured data, Structuring the Computation, Structured programming, OOP and Functional Programming, if anyone having little experience in any programming language,, Good Enough though..