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Programming in the 1990s

An Introduction to the Calculation of Programs

  • Textbook
  • © 1990

Overview

Authors:
  1. Edward Cohen

    1. Software Logic Limited, Brookline, USA

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Part of the book series: Monographs in Computer Science (MCS)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. What can we learn from a cake?

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 1-7

  3. Preliminary notions, notations, and terminology

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 9-26

  4. Predicates A — Boolean operators

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 27-43

  5. Predicates B — Quantified expressions

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 45-59

  6. Specifications

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 61-79

  7. The shapes of programs

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 81-100

  8. Intermezzo on calculations

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 101-108

  9. Developing loopless programs

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 109-121

  10. Developing loops — an introduction

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 123-126

  11. Loops A — On deleting a conjunct

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 127-148

  12. Loops B — On replacing constants by fresh variables

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 149-194

  13. Mainly on recursion

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 195-220

  14. Back to scratch

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 221-247

  15. Where to go from here

    • Edward Cohen
    Pages 249-260

  16. Back Matter

    Pages 261-268
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Keywords

About this book

Programming is a fascinating and challenging subject. Unfortunately, it is rarely presented as such. Most often it is taught by "induction": features of some famous programming languages are given operational meaning (e.g. a loop "goes round and round"), a number of examples are shown, and by induction, we are asked to develop other programs, often radically different from the ones we've seen. Basically we are taught to guess our programs, and then to patch up our guesses. Our errors are given the cute name of "bugs". Fixing them becomes puzzle-solving, as does finding tricks that exploit or avoid poorly designed features of the programming language. The entire process is time-consuming and expensive. And even so, we are never quite sure if our programs really work in all cases. When approached in this way, programming is indeed a dull activity. There is, however, another approach to programming, an approach in which programs can be developed reliably, with attention to the real issues. It is a practical approach based on methodically developing programs from their specifications. Besides being practical, it is exciting. Many programs can be developed with relative ease. Problems which once were difficult can now be solved by beginners. Elegant solutions bring great satisfaction. This is our subject. We are interested in making programming an exciting topic!

Authors and Affiliations

  • Software Logic Limited, Brookline, USA

    Edward Cohen

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Programming in the 1990s

  • Book Subtitle: An Introduction to the Calculation of Programs

  • Authors: Edward Cohen

  • Series Title: Monographs in Computer Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9706-9

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1990

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-0-387-97382-1Published: 02 October 1990

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4613-9706-9Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0172-603X

  • Series E-ISSN: 2512-5486

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 265

  • Topics: Programming Techniques, Software Engineering

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