ENGLISH

Programming with Sets: An Introduction to SETL

By E. Dubinsky , J. T. Schwartz , R. B. K. Dewar , E. Schonberg

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
1986
ISBN
978-1-4613-9577-5, 978-1-4613-9575-1
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4613-9575-1
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
11 MB (11572798 bytes)
Series
Texts and Monographs in Computer Science
Pages
507\507
Orientation
portrait
Paginated
yes
Scanned
yes
Time added
2013-08-01 04:00:00
CompilersInterpreters; Software EngineeringProgramming Languages

Description

The programming language SETL is a relatively new member of the so-called "very-high-level" class of languages, some of whose other well-known mem­bers are LISP, APL, SNOBOL, and PROLOG. These languages all aim to reduce the cost of programming, recognized today as a main obstacle to future progress in the computer field, by allowing direct manipulation of large composite objects, considerably more complex than the integers, strings, etc., available in such well-known mainstream languages as PASCAL, PL/I, ALGOL, and Ada. For this purpose, LISP introduces structured lists as data objects, APL introduces vectors and matrices, and SETL introduces the objects characteristic for it, namely general finite sets and maps. The direct availability of these abstract, composite objects, and of powerful mathematical operations upon them, improves programmer speed and pro­ductivity significantly, and also enhances program clarity and readability. The classroom consequence is that students, freed of some of the burden of petty programming detail, can advance their knowledge of significant algorithms and of broader strategic issues in program development more rapidly than with more conventional programming languages.

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