Types serve as the central organizational principle in the theory of programming languages. In this innovative book, Professor Robert Harper offers a fresh perspective on the foundational aspects of these languages by employing type theory. Unlike most textbooks that focus on taxonomy, Harper emphasizes genetics, exploring the fundamental elements that constitute all programming languages. Language features are reflections of type structure, where syntax is governed by constructs defining types, and semantics is shaped by interactions among these constructs. The soundness of a language design, ensuring the absence of ill-defined programs, naturally follows.

Professor Harper’s presentation is simultaneously rigorous and intuitive, relying on elementary mathematics. The framework he presents easily scales to a diverse array of language concepts and is directly applicable to their implementation. The result is a clear introduction to programming theory that is both accessible and practical.

Download

Ebook

See also

• Software Exorcism: A Handbook for Debugging and Optimizing Legacy Code by Bill Blunden (2003)
• Hormones and the Endocrine System: Textbook of Endocrinology by Bernhard Kleine (2016)
• Genetics: A Conceptual Approach 6e by Benjamin A. Pierce (2017)
• A Functional Approach to Java by Ben Weidig (2022)
• Calculus of variations and optimal control by Amol Sasan (2005)