Essentials of Programming Languages (2nd ed) by Daniel P. Friedman, Mitchell Wand and Christopher T. Haynes, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-06217-8, 2001

Abstract

This book provides students with a deep, working understanding of theessential concepts of programming languages. Most of these essentials relateto the semantics, or meaning, of program elements, and the text usesinterpreters (short programs that directly analyze an abstract representationof the program text) to express the semantics of many essential languageelements in a way that is both clear and executable. The approach is bothanalytical and hands-on. The book provides views of programming languagesusing widely varying levels of abstraction, maintaining a clear connectionbetween the high-level and low-level views. Exercises are a vital part of thetext and are scattered throughout; the text explains the key concepts, and theexercises explore alternative designs and other issues. The complete Schemecode for all the interpreters and analyzers in the book can be found onlinethrough The MIT Press Web site.For this new edition, each chapter has been revised and many new exerciseshave been added. Significant additions have been made to the text, includingcompletely new chapters on modules and continuation-passing style. Essentialsof Programming Languages can be used for both graduate and undergraduatecourses, and for continuing education courses for programmers.