Introduction to Functional Programming and Miranda

This book explains the fundamentals of functional programming, and uses the language, Miranda, as the vehicle for explaining the fundamentals. The book provides comprehensive coverage of the Miranda language, whilst an appendix provides details of other functional programming languages. The text is designed so that no programming experience or theory is assumed and is ideal for students learning programming for the first time. For those students with programming experience, a "route map" is provided in an appendix, allowing lecturers to create a different "path" through the text. The treatment is mainly led by applications, with exercises, examples and case studies. The book divides itself into four sections and begins with an explanation of the basic forms of definition in Miranda, with reference to simple and familiar tasks. The second part stresses list processing: this extends the scope of applications, and reveals the inherent power of functional notation. The third part introduces algebraic datatypes, higher-order functions, infinite objects and so on and can be treated in any order, or even begun at an earlier stage.
Finally, a more formal and systematic view of Miranda is given, together with some comparative material (notably Haskell and ML).
 
This book explains the fundamentals of functional programming, and uses the language, Miranda, as the vehicle for explaining the fundamentals. The book provides comprehensive coverage of the Miranda language, whilst an appendix provides details of other functional programming languages. The text is designed so that no programming experience or theory is assumed and is ideal for students learning programming for the first time. For those students with programming experience, a "route map" is provided in an appendix, allowing lecturers to create a different "path" through the text. The treatment is mainly led by applications, with exercises, examples and case studies. The book divides itself into four sections and begins with an explanation of the basic forms of definition in Miranda, with reference to simple and familiar tasks. The second part stresses list processing: this extends the scope of applications, and reveals the inherent power of functional notation. The third part introduces algebraic datatypes, higher-order functions, infinite objects and so on and can be treated in any order, or even begun at an earlier stage.
Finally, a more formal and systematic view of Miranda is given, together with some comparative material (notably Haskell and ML).