In programming courses, using the different syntax of multiple languages, such as C++, Java, PHP, and Python, for the same abstraction often confuses students new to computer science. Introduction to Programming Languages separates programming language concepts from the restraints of multiple language syntax by discussing the concepts at an abstract level. Designed for a one-semester undergraduate course, this classroom-tested book teaches the principles of programming language design and implementation. It presents: Common features of programming languages at an abstract level rather than a comparative level The implementation model and behavior of programming paradigms at abstract levels so that students understand the power and limitations of programming paradigms Language constructs at a paradigm level A holistic view of programming language design and behavior To make the book self-contained, the author introduces the necessary concepts of data structures and discrete structures from the perspective of programming language theory. The text covers classical topics, such as syntax and semantics, imperative programming, program structures, information exchange between subprograms, object-oriented programming, logic programming, and functional programming. It also explores newer topics, including dependency analysis, communicating sequential processes, concurrent programming constructs, web and multimedia programming, event-based programming, agent-based programming, synchronous languages, high-productivity programming on massive parallel computers, models for mobile computing, and much more. Along with problems and further reading in each chapter, the book includes in-depth examples and case studies using various languages that help students understand syntax in practical contexts.

The design and implementation of programming languages, from Fortran and Cobol to Caml and Java, has been one of the key developments in the management of ever more complex computerized systems. Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages gives the reader the means to discover the tools to think, design, and implement these languages. It proposes a unified vision of the different formalisms that permit definition of a programming language: small steps operational semantics, big steps operational semantics, and denotational semantics, emphasising that all seek to define a relation between three objects: a program, an input value, and an output value. These formalisms are illustrated by presenting the semantics of some typical features of programming languages: functions, recursivity, assignments, records, objects, ... showing that the study of programming languages does not consist of studying languages one after another, but is organized around the features that are present in these various languages. The study of these features leads to the development of evaluators, interpreters and compilers, and also type inference algorithms, for small languages.

A comprehensive undergraduate textbook covering both theory and practical design issues, with an emphasis on object-oriented languages.

A textbook that uses a hands-on approach to teach principles of programming languages, with Java as the implementation language. This introductory textbook uses a hands-on approach to teach the principles of programming languages. Using Java as the implementation language, Rajan covers a range of emerging topics, including concurrency, Big Data, and event-driven programming. Students will learn to design, implement, analyze, and understand both domain-specific and general-purpose programming languages. Develops basic concepts in languages, including means of computation, means of combination, and means of abstraction. Examines imperative features such as references, concurrency features such as fork, and reactive features such as event handling. Covers language features that express differing perspectives of thinking about computation, including those of logic programming and flow-based programming. Presumes Java programming experience and understanding of object-oriented classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and static classes. Each chapter corresponds with a working implementation of a small programming language allowing students to follow along.

Despite using them every day, most software engineers know little about how programming languages are designed and implemented. For many, their only experience with that corner of computer science was a terrifying "compilers" class that they suffered through in undergrad and tried to blot from their memory as soon as they had scribbled their last NFA to DFA conversion on the final exam. That fearsome reputation belies a field that is rich with useful techniques and not so difficult as some of its practitioners might have you believe. A better understanding of how programming languages are built will make you a stronger software engineer and teach you concepts and data structures you'll use the rest of your coding days. You might even have fun. This book teaches you everything you need to know to implement a full-featured, efficient scripting language. You'll learn both high-level concepts around parsing and semantics and gritty details like bytecode representation and garbage collection. Your brain will light up with new ideas, and your hands will get dirty and calloused. Starting from main(), you will build a language that features rich syntax, dynamic typing, garbage collection, lexical scope, first-class functions, closures, classes, and inheritance. All packed into a few thousand lines of clean, fast code that you thoroughly understand because you wrote each one yourself.

Implementing a programming language means bridging the gap from the programmer's high-level thinking to the machine's zeros and ones. If this is done in an efficient and reliable way, programmers can concentrate on the actual problems they have to solve, rather than on the details of machines. But understanding the whole chain from languages to machines is still an essential part of the training of any serious programmer. It will result in a more competent programmer, who will moreover be able to develop new languages. A new language is often the best way to solve a problem, and less difficult than it may sound. This book follows a theory-based practical approach, where theoretical models serve as blueprint for actual coding. The reader is guided to build compilers and interpreters in a well-understood and scalable way. The solutions are moreover portable to different implementation languages. Much of the actual code is automatically generated from a grammar of the language, by using the BNF Converter tool. The rest can be written in Haskell or Java, for which the book gives detailed guidance, but with some adaptation also in C, C++, C#, or OCaml, which are supported by the BNF Converter. The main focus of the book is on standard imperative and functional languages: a subset of C++ and a subset of Haskell are the source languages, and Java Virtual Machine is the main target. Simple Intel x86 native code compilation is shown to complete the chain from language to machine. The last chapter leaves the standard paths and explores the space of language design ranging from minimal Turing-complete languages to human-computer interaction in natural language.

Typical undergraduate CS/CE majors have a practical orientation: they study computing because they like programming and are good at it. This book has strong appeal to this core student group. There is more than enough material for a semester-long course. The challenge for a course in programming language concepts is to help practical ......