The Interpretation of Object-Oriented Programming Languages

by Iain Craig

While there are many books on particular languages, there are very few that deal with all aspects of object-oriented programming languages. The Interpretation of Object-Oriented Programming Languages provides a comprehensive treatment of the main approaches to object-oriented languages, including class-based, prototype and actor languages. This revised and extended edition includes a completely new chapter on Microsoft's new C# language, a language specifically designed for modern, component-oriented, networked applications. The chapter covers all aspects of C# that relate to object-oriented programming. It now also includes a new appendix on BeCecil, a kernel language that can implement object-oriented constructs within a single framework.

Genres: Programming Languages

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2000

Reviews

[Leo Horovitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is certainly better than Budd's An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming as an overview and explication of object-oriented features, but it is still lacking. The presentation is a bit more formal but it falls into the same trap as so much literature on object-orientation: presenting OO as the paradigm for highly flexible programming, contrasting it with "traditional" models (meaning plain procedural programming) and treating polymorphism as something primarily and intrinsically linked to OO. It's not as bad in this respect as some of the worst offenders: other forms of polymorphism are presented and functional programming is treated to some extent, but the presentations of these are okay at best. I personally like OO quite a lot but would like to see more serious presentations, treating it the way it deserves: as one computational model our of many. Other annoyances where the many typos and typographical mishaps sometimes causing some confusion and requiring a closer look with some creative interpretation to understand what was supposed to be written on the page. A good book, but nothing great. I wonder if there are any serious, well-written presentations of object-orientated features at an introductory, non-formal level?

Anyway, I'm off to read Abadi's and Cardelli's A Theory of Objects now, a book I've started but put to the side previously and one which gives a much more formal exposition of object-oriented languages in the form of formal calculi and which also, as I recall, gives a very good, informal overview of the features in its introductory part.