January 2026
Intermediate to advanced
372 pages
8h 14m
English
Content preview from Building Programming Language Interpreters
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6
Review of Programming Language Paradigms
In this chapter, I will do a brief review of the major programming language paradigms, contrasting them through examples. When designing a new language, you will have to make design decisions about how much each paradigm helps you solve the particular problems of your domain. We will work through the following concepts:
- How imperative programming allows the straightforward execution of instructions in a direct order
- How functional programming leaves a large space for the compiler to decide the best way to execute the program
- How declarative programming allows expressing complex state machines and rules in a way that abstracts away that complexity
- How logic programming allows specifying constraints ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.