December 2021
Beginner
840 pages
47h 29m
English
Content preview from Programming Languages: Concepts and Implementation
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Language to the mind is more than light is to the eye.
— Anne Sullivan in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker (1959)
That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted.
— George Boole (1854)
A language that doesn’t affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.
— Alan Perlis (1982)
“I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin”.
— Alice, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1895) by Lewis Carroll
WELCOME to the study of programming languages. This book and course of study is about programming language concepts—the building blocks of languages.