Re: Do any of you recommend Python as a first programming language?

Paul Rubin wrote:
Jeff Schwab <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
I've been learning a fair amount about functional programming
recently, mostly because compile-time C++ turns out to be a pure
functional programming language. Where should I go for a solid
grounding in lambda-calculus?

For PL theory in general, try this:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rwh/plbook/book.pdf

What a mess. That's some professor inventing his very own variation on
predicate calculus and writing a book using his own notation and terminology.
There's no sign of footnotes or references to prior work. The notation
doesn't seem to do anything not previously possible; it's just different.

Back when I was doing program verification work, we used to refer to
stuff like that as the "logic of the month club".

John Nagle
.