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Theoretical Introduction to Programming

By: Bruce Ian Mills

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Paperback | 25 October 2005

At a Glance

Paperback
372 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.91

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$98.99

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Including easily digested information about fundamental techniques and concepts in software construction, this book is distinct in unifying pure theory with pragmatic details. Driven by generic problems and concepts, with brief and complete illustrations from languages including C, Prolog, Java, Scheme, Haskell and HTML.

This book is intended to be both a how-to handbook and easy reference guide. Discussions of principle, worked examples and exercises are presented. All concepts outside introductory programming are explained with clear demarcation and dependencies so the experienced programmer can quickly locate material. Readable in a linear manner, with short mono-thematic to encourage dipping and reference. Also included are sections on open problems in software theory and practice.

While little other than a novice programmer's knowledge is explicitly assumed, a certain conceptual maturity, either through commercial programming or academic training is required - each language is introduced and explained briefly as needed.

Industry Reviews

From the reviews: "A good programmer has to know more than the constructs of a given programming language: eg., computational models, formal technologies, limitations on models, technologies and computers, properties of programming languages (and their compilers), interaction between programs, and even philosophical aspects. ! the author gives a good introduction to the mentioned fields in the form of chapters partitioned into notions (and some exercises) ! . So, the book is a good survey for specialists ! ." (G. Riedewald, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1097 (23), 2006)

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Non-Fiction Computing & I.T.Computer Programming & Software Development Software Engineering Programming & Scripting Languages Operating Systems Computer Science Computer Architecture & Logic Design Mathematical Theory of Computation Compilers & Interpreters

Preface	p. v
The Abstract Rational Outlook	p. 1
Abstract Computation	p. 2
Rational Thought	p. 4
Human Psychology	p. 6
Mythological Language	p. 8
Literate Programming	p. 10
Hand-Crafted Software	p. 12
Technical Programming	p. 14
A Grab Bag of Computational Models	p. 17
Abstract and Virtual Machines	p. 18
State Machines	p. 20
State Machines in Action	p. 22
Turing Machine	p. 26
Non-Deterministic Machines	p. 30
Von Neumann Machine	p. 34
Stack Machine	p. 36
Register Machine	p. 38
Analogue Machine	p. 39
Cellular Automata	p. 40
Unorthodox Models	p. 41
The Game of Life	p. 42
The Modern Desktop Computer	p. 44
Aspects of Virtual Machines	p. 46
Aspects of Programming	p. 48
Register Indirection	p. 50
Pure Expression Substitution	p. 52
Lists Pure and Linked	p. 54
Pure String Substitution	p. 56
The Face Value of Numerals	p. 58
Solving Equations	p. 62
Pure Unification	p. 64
Equality of Expressions	p. 66
Equational Reasoning	p. 68
Unification Reduction	p. 70
Code Reduction	p. 74
Programming With Logic	p. 76
Negation in Logic Programming	p. 78
Impure Lambda Calculus	p. 80
Pure Lambda Calculus	p. 82
Pure Lambda Arithmetic	p. 84
Pure Lambda Flow Control	p. 86
S-K Combinators	p. 90
Some Formal Technology	p. 92
The Ellipsis Is Not a Definition	p. 93
The Summation Operator	p. 95
Propositional Calculus	p. 97
Boolean Algebra	p. 99
Predicate Calculus	p. 101
Formal Mathematical Models	p. 102
The Formal State Machine	p. 103
Several Types of Networks	p. 105
Informal Petri Nets	p. 107
Formal Turing Machine	p. 109
The Table-Driven State Machine	p. 110
Factors of Graphs	p. 111
Products of Graphs	p. 113
Constructive Numerics	p. 115
Prime Programs	p. 117
Showing that Factorial Works	p. 119
Reasoning About Code	p. 123
Logical Conditions	p. 127
Limitations on Exact Knowledge	p. 131
Finite-State Limitations	p. 132
N log N sorting	p. 133
Russell's Paradox	p. 134
Pure Lambda Paradoxes	p. 136
Godel's Theorem	p. 138
Non-Computability	p. 140
Solving Polynomials	p. 142
Churche's Thesis	p. 143
Algorithmic Complexity	p. 144
P and NP	p. 146
NP completeness	p. 148
Turing Test	p. 149
Natural Language Processing	p. 150
The Computable Reals	p. 151
The Diagonal Argument	p. 152
Some Orthodox Languages	p. 154
C Pointers to Functions	p. 159
Taking C on Face Value	p. 161
Functions and Other Data in C	p. 163
The C Preprocessor	p. 166
C Functions are Data Again	p. 167
Java Code	p. 169
Pointer Casting	p. 171
The Object Data Type	p. 177
Manual Objects	p. 179
Inheritance and Dynamic Type	p. 181
CODASYL and Objects	p. 183
Typecasting	p. 185
The Concept of Type	p. 187
Type-Checking	p. 188
Subtypes and Programming	p. 189
New Datatypes	p. 190
Scheme Code	p. 193
Declarative and Imperative	p. 195
Sorting with Pure Substitution	p. 197
Fast Sorting in Haskell	p. 199
Logic in Prolog	p. 201
Functions in Prolog	p. 204
Arithmetic in Prolog	p. 205
Meta-Logic in Prolog	p. 207
What Is HTML Code?	p. 209
Illogical markup language	p. 211
HTML Forgive and Forget	p. 212
Expanding Beyond Recognition	p. 213
Arithmetic Computation	p. 214
Natural Arithmetic	p. 215
Modulo Arithmetic	p. 217
Integer Arithmetic	p. 219
Rational Arithmetic	p. 221
Complex Arithmetic	p. 223
Exact Arithmetic	p. 225
Showing That a Power Loop Works	p. 227
When Is a Proof Not a Proof?	p. 229
Real-Valued Memory	p. 231
Cellular Matrix Multiplication	p. 232
Repetitive Computation	p. 235
The Use of Recursion	p. 236
Doing Without the While Loop	p. 238
Defining the Generic While-Loop	p. 240
Design of the Power Function	p. 244
Powers by Multiplication	p. 246
Computing Powers by Squaring	p. 248
Language or Algorithm?	p. 250
Repetitive Program Design	p. 253
Recursive Code Compilation	p. 254
Functions as Data	p. 256
Lambda Expressions in Java	p. 258
The Y-combinator definition	p. 260
Y-combinator factorial	p. 263
Y-combinator Fibonacci	p. 264
Temporal Interaction	p. 265
Virtual Interaction	p. 266
Incorruptible Operations	p. 268
Temporal Computing	p. 270
Multi-Threaded Code	p. 272
Graphs of State Machines	p. 273
Direct Thread Composition	p. 274
Concurrent Thread Interference	p. 276
Control Structures	p. 278
Thread Point of Execution	p. 280
The Transition Network	p. 281
High-Level Interference	p. 285
Incorruptible Commands Again	p. 286
Thread Interaction	p. 288
Pure String Interaction	p. 292
Showing That a Parser Works	p. 295
Mutual Exclusion	p. 296
Good Mutual Exclusion	p. 298
A Partial Mutex Protocol	p. 299
Guarded Commands	p. 300
Blocking Commands	p. 306
Hardware Assistance	p. 307
Proving That a Protocol Works	p. 308
Two Partial Exclusion Protocols	p. 309
The Peterson Protocol	p. 310
The Decker Protocol	p. 312
Proving That a Protocol Works	p. 314
Container Datatypes	p. 315
Abstract Arrays	p. 316
Pure Containers	p. 318
Generic Maps	p. 322
Showing That Infinite Lists Work	p. 325
Generic Lists	p. 326
Computing with Infinite Lists	p. 328
Sequence Builder	p. 330
Infinite Lists in Haskell	p. 333
Infinite Lists in Scheme	p. 334
Primitive List Recursion	p. 336
Appendices	p. 339
End notes	p. 340
Bibliography	p. 351
Glossary	p. 353
Index	p. 355
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Theoretical Introduction to Programming

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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How to return your order

Defective items

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