[m-dev.] Book topics

[Ralph Becket]

Feedback welcome...


Topics
Ralph Becket <rafe at cs.mu.oz.au>
Mon Oct 15 13:05:39 EST 2001
 vim: ft=txt wm=10

[Draft]

List of topics to conver in the book.  I currently envision the book
in two sections: section 1 should be a tutorial sacrificing depth in
order to give a more general feeling for the language; section 2 will
cover each key topic separately and in some depth.

I have put stars beside topics and sub-topics that I believe should be
addressed only in section 2.  These topics are listed roughly in the
order I think they should be presented in depth (there will probably
be many forward references and "preliminary glosses" in earlier
chapters.)



Hello, World!

Declarative vs Imperative Programming
	Definitions
	Benefits of declarative style
	Pragmatism
	Mercury philosophy

Types
	Primitive
	Algebraic
	Equivalence
	Algebraic types with fields
		Definition
		Access
		Update
	* Types with user-defined equality

Functions
	Definition
	Pattern matching
	Recursion
	Conditional expressions
		Overview to semidet predicates
	Polymorphism
	* Partial (semidet) functions
	Infix notation and syntactic sugar in general

Predicates
	Definition
	Recursion
	If-then-else
	Disjunction
	Switches
	Backtracking

IO
	Uniqueness
	* Determinism restrictions
	* DCG notation in detail

Modes
	Direction of data flow
	Determinism categories
	Committed choice
	* Subtyping
	* Unique modes
		Determinism restrictions
		Mostly unique modes
	Higher order modes
		The standard func mode
		Standard funcs and the ground inst

Modules
	Namespaces
	Overloading and name resolution
	Submodules
		Nested
		Separate

Higher Order Programming
	Higher order application
	Pred and func modes
	* Monomorphism restriction

* Type Classes
	OO Programming
	Type class declarations
		Method signatures
		Type class constraints
	Instance declarations
		Method implementations
		Type class constraints
	Existentially quantified types
		Use
		Why output only
	...Constructor classes
	...Functional dependencies
	Restrictions and explanations thereof
		On type class definitions
		On instance definitions

Lists
	Description
	Map, fold & member

Maps

Arrays

Compiling Programs
	Mmake
	Compiler flags
	Compilation grades

* Stores

* Exceptions
	Throwing
	Catching
		Effect on determinism
		Restoring (plain) determinism (promise_only_solution)

* Foreign Language Interface
	Declarations
	Data types

* Impure code
	Levels of purity
	Effect of impurity annotations
	Promising purity (pragma promise_pure)

* Pragmas
	Inlining
	Type specialization
	Obsolescence
	Memoing
	...Promises

* Debugging
	Compiling for debugging
	Basic tour of the debugger
	Declarative debugging

* Optimization
	When to do it and when to avoid it
	Profiling
	Various considerations
	An overview of contemporary optimizer technology

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