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"Though the writing is crisp, and the explanations lucid, this is not an easy book to read. The difficulty lies in the density of ideas presented. The rewards of persevering are definitely worth it, though. In fact, once immersed, I started to ponder where this material would lead to: which algorithms could be even further generalized, what would many of these algorithms look like if implemented in Coq or Agda, and so forth. This is the effect that all good books have on me: well-presented and well-motivated material strives to become a stepping stone to further discovery. Any serious computer scientist would benefit from reading and properly understanding this book.
Jacques Carette, Computing Reviews
Jacques Carette, Computing Reviews
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Richard Bird takes a radically new approach to algorithm design, namely, design by calculation. These 30 short chapters each deal with a particular programming problem drawn from sources as diverse as games and puzzles, intriguing combinatorial tasks, and more familiar areas such as data compression and string matching. Each pearl starts with the statement of the problem expressed using the functional programming language Haskell, a powerful yet succinct language for capturing algorithmic ideas clearly and simply. The novel aspect of the book is that each solution is calculated from an initial formulation of the problem in Haskell by appealing to the laws of functional programming. Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design will appeal to the aspiring functional programmer, students and teachers interested in the principles of algorithm design, and anyone seeking to master the techniques of reasoning about programs in an equational style.
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3 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A book for someone who wants to think
25 Nov 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bird has written a fine book, the functional analogue to Bentley's fine pieces. If there is one thing that's common to the functional attitude in program design, it's an emphasis on proof and logical consistency. Bird goes into detail and carefully shows why algorithms perform, and what their costs must be in terms of time and space complexity.
One quibble: the reader, to follow the arguments, will want to write the short code selections for himself, to check Bird's arguments; he'll find himself having to define a number of Unicode mathematical operators, like
U-2209, for example. But this isn't hard to do, in Haskell.
Each chapter is well-written, to the point, and closely argued. In showing the beauty of Haskell in a clear way, or showing the beauty of concrete maths in a clear way, Bird has done well.
One quibble: the reader, to follow the arguments, will want to write the short code selections for himself, to check Bird's arguments; he'll find himself having to define a number of Unicode mathematical operators, like
U-2209, for example. But this isn't hard to do, in Haskell.
Each chapter is well-written, to the point, and closely argued. In showing the beauty of Haskell in a clear way, or showing the beauty of concrete maths in a clear way, Bird has done well.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Required reading for any computing scientist
16 Oct 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love this book. Just like Jon Bentley's Pearls books, this rather thin book is quite literally a pearl of programming wisdom. Although it's angled to the functional paradigm (Haskell, which is a pleasure as well), it makes for provocative reading given that other languages like C++ and various scripting languages are increasingly including functional programming facilities. This belongs on every computer scientist's (and software engineer's) bookshelf.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
readable and useful
11 Nov 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
i'm not entirely finished with the "pearls" yet, but so far its interesting and fun. there is a lot of great follow-on discussion for each pearl. a welcome addition to the growing collection of quality texts dealing with haskell and functional programming.
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