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A path to Programming Language Theory enlightenment

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Programming Language Theory

Programming Language Theory

Finding a path to enlightenment in Programming Language Theory can be a tough one, particularly for programming practitioners who didn't learn it at school. This resource is here to help. Please feel free to ping me or send pull requests if you have ideas for improvement.

Note that I've attempted to order the books in order of most "tackleable". So the idea is to read books from top to bottom. As always, it depends on your background and inclinations. It would be nice to provide multiple paths through this material for folks with different backgrounds and even folks with different goals. However, for now, it is what it is.

Mathematical Literacy

Algebra

Type Theory

For a quick course in Type Theory, Philip Wadler recommends: Types and Programming Languages, Proofs and Types, followed by Advanced Topics in Types and Programming Languages.

Books

  • SF - Software Foundations - Benjamin C. Pierce et al.
  • TaPL - Types and Programming Languages - Benjamin C. Pierce
  • PROT Proofs and Types - Jean-Yves Girard, Yves Lafont and Paul Taylor - 1987-90 pdf
  • PFPL - Practical Foundations for Programming Languages (Second Edition) - Robert Harper Online preview edition
  • ATTaPL - Advanced Topics in Types and Programming Languages - Edited by Benjamin C. Pierce (pdf)
  • CPDT - Certified Programming with Dependent Types - Adam Chlipala
  • SEwPR - Semantics Engineering with PLT Redex - Matthias Felleisen, Robby Findler, and Matthew Flatt. Redex
  • HoTT - Homotopy Type Theory, Univalent Foundations of Mathematics
  • Coq'Art Interactive Theorem Proving and Program Development, Coq'Art: The Calculus of Inductive Constructions - Yves Bertot, Pierre Castéran.
  • TTFP - Type Theory and Functional Programming - Simon Thompson, 1991
  • PiMLTT - Programming in Martin-Löf's Type Theory, An Introduction - Bengt Nordström, Kent Petersson, Jan M. Smith
  • Using, Understanding, and Unravelling The OCaml Language — An introduction pdf
  • Polymorphic typing of an algorithmic language (PhD Thesis) - Xavier Leroy pdf
  • ATP - Handbook of Practical Logic and Automated Reasoning - John Harrison
  • Basic Simple Type Theory - J. Roger Hindley pdf paperback@booko
  • Lambda Calculus and Combinators - J. Roger Hindley and Jonathan P. Seldin www pdf
  • Semantics with Applications: An Appetizer - Hanne Riis Nielson, Flemming Nielson pdf
  • An Introduction to Lambda Calculi for Computer Scientists - Chris Hankin
  • The Definition of Standard ML (Revised) - Milner, Fofte, Harper, and MacQueen
  • The Definition of Standard ML (1990) and Commentary on Standard ML (1991) www definition pdf commentary pdf

Papers

  • Lambda Calculi with Types — Henk Barendregt pdf
  • A Tutorial Implementation of a Dependently Typed Lambda Calculus - Andres Löh, Conor McBride and Wouter Swierstra www pdf, was previously published as "Simply Easy" pdf

Videos

Subtopics

Programming Languages

Books

  • DCPL - Design Concepts in Programming Languages – Franklyn Turbak and David Gifford, 2008
  • CTM - Concepts, Techniques and Models of Computer Programming, Peter Van Roy and Seif Haridi
  • EOPL - Essentials of Programming Languages, 3rd Edition - Daniel P. Friedman
  • PLAI-2nd - Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation - Shriram Krishnamurthi course with videos PLAI-1st
  • PAIP Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp - Peter Norvig, 1992

Papers

  • An argument against call/cc - Oleg Kiselyov www

Compiler Construction

Books

  • LiSP - Lisp in Small Pieces - Christian Queinnec
  • CwC Compiling with Continuations - Andrew W. Appel
  • MCIiML Modern Compiler Implementation in ML - Andrew W. Appel
  • pj-lester-book Implementing functional languages: a tutorial - Simon Peyton Jones and David Lester, 1992
  • slpj-book-1987 - The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages - Simon Peyton Jones - 1987

Papers

  • ZINC - The ZINC experiment, an economical implementation of the ML language - Xavier Leroy (Technical Report) more OCaml papers

Videos

Runtime systems

Books

  • The Garbage Collection Handbook, The Art of Automatic Memory Management - 2011 - Richard Jones, Antony Hosking, Eliot Moss - www

Papers

  • Lambda: The Ultimate GOTO - Debunking the 'Expensive Procedure Call' Myth, or, Procedure Call Implementations Considered Harmful, or, Lambda: The Ultimate GOTO - 1977 - Guy Lewis Steele, Jr. pdf

Functional Programming

Books

  • Bird and Wadler - Introduction to Functional Programming, 1st Edition - Bird and Wadler
  • AoP - The Algebra of Programming - Richard Bird, Oege de Moor
  • Programming in Haskell - Graham Hutton, 2007 www
  • RWH - Real World Haskell - Bryan O'Sullivan, Don Stewart, and John Goerzen
  • FPiS - Functional Programming in Scala - Paul Chiusano and Rúnar Bjarnason
  • SICP, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman
  • PCPH - Parallel and Concurrent Programming in Haskell - Simon Marlow
  • RWOC - Real World OCaml - Jason Hickey, Anil Madhavapeddy, and Yaron Minsky
  • Developing Applications With OCaml - Emmanuel Chailloux, Pascal Manoury and Bruno Pagano, 2000 www
  • BTLS - The Little Schemer - Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen
  • BTSS - The Seasoned Schemer - Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen
  • BTML - The Little MLer - Matthias Felleisen, Daniel P. Friedman
  • HTDP - How to Design Programs - Matthias Felleisen, Robert Findler, Matthew Flatt, Shriram Krishnamurthi
  • HR - The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming - 2nd Ed. - Kees Doets, Jan van Eijck pdf
  • A Book of Abstract Algebra - 2nd Ed. - Charles C. Pinter booko
  • Lectures on the Curry-Howard Isomorphism pdf
  • Purely Functional Data Structures - Chris Okasaki phd-thesis in pdf paperback@booko More purely functional data structures

Papers

Videos

Category Theory

Philip Wadler's advice here is "read Pierce for motivation, Mac Lane for the presentation of the maths".

Books

Subtopics

Other collections