Product Description
This work on systems programming with Modula-3 includes the language definition of Modula-3, together with a collection of examples, ranging from a tutorial on an object-oriented window system toolkit, to a review of the low levels of an input-output stream package. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Classic reading on software and language design
Modula-3 is a little known language, but was highly influential on the design of Java.Although the language itself is of mostly historical interest now, this book is a wonderful introduction to a principled approach to both language and software design.Chapter five on threads is still the classic introduction to the topic.Chapter six is a wonderful case-study in rigorous, object-oriented design.Chapter seven is a great tutorial on building complex, multi-threaded libraries.

If you want to be a serious programmer, you have to read this book.

Table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Language Definition
3. Standard Interfaces
4. An Introduction to Programming with Threads
5. Thread Synchronization: A Formal Specification
6. I/O Streams: Abstract Types, Real Programs
7. Trestle Window System Tutorial
8. How the Language Got its Spots

Great medium-level book
This book is the perfect quick reference book for the more basic aspectsof Modula-3, including the language definition and standard interfaces. Italso includes good tutorials on Threads, Trestle, etc. for when you want tomove further, and a jolly section at the end explaining some of the designdecisions underlying Modula-3. ... Read more

Product Description
The difficulty of programming lies in the need to bring our ideas into a form that can be processed by a machine. This book shows how to write and understand even complex programs by applying proper structures and good style. It uses the programming language Modula-3, which relies on and extends the well-known concepts of Pascal and Modula-2. The steps needed to become an expert programmer are based first of all on the elegant type concept of Modula-3. The programming style supported by this concept leads the reader step-by-step toward coping with complex data structures and algorithms. Such new and exciting subjects as object-oriented and parallel programming are touched upon. The book requires no prior programming experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Learn Modula-3 in n Days, for n >> 15
Published by Springer, this text is a comprehensive treatment of programming in general and Modula-3 in particular.The book is a thorough and very well organized introduction to Modula-3 (just what you would expect from Springer), but in no way is it a tutorial for light reading (just what you would expect from Springer).Springer books are often inaccessibly advanced, targeted at university graduate students and professors, and this one is no exception. However, even if you're a hobbyist you can still find this book useful, but like anything worthwhile you must be willing dedicate some time to it.

The book covers all the Modula-3 language constructs including OOP, recursive algorithms, persistent data structures, and concurrent threads.The reading is occasionally dry and sometimes idiomatically strange, but you must keep in mind that the English edition is a translation of the German edition.

Modula-3 is a member of the Niklaus Wirth family of programming languages that includes Pascal, Modula-2, and Oberon.These languages are characterized by very strict, strong, static, explicit typing.The hard work in learning one of these languages is getting your first few programs to compile, but the nice part is that once your program compiles, no matter how large it becomes there is a good chance it will run correctly (well, a better chance than with a language like C++ or PHP).In particular, if you're a fan of Pascal, Ada, Haskell, or ML, and you've been looking for a modern procedural/OOP language, then you will like Modula-3 and this book is a good place to start.However, if you're more accustomed to a loosely structured scripting language like Perl or PHP, or to a dynamically typed language like Python, Ruby, Lisp, or Scheme, or to a weakly typed language like C or C++, then the Modula-3 language will frustrate you much more than this book will.

If you're a computer scientist, Modula-3 is a must-learn.It's certainly the best designed procedural/object-oriented language in existence.It gives you all the high-level features of an applications language: OOP, namespaces, a large base library, automatic memory management (i.e., garbage collection), plus low-level features of a systems language: pointers, encapsulation of unsafe code, direct hardware access, and extra things like first-class functions and garbage collected threads.Spend some time with this book and you'll learn more than just how to write Modula-3 programs, you'll learn about programming in general, and you'll learn about programming languages.

I think the biggest problem with the book is the typeface used for the program examples: the publisher used a proportional sans-serif typeface in order to fit the examples onto the page, but this makes many of the examples a very dense read (thankfully, the examples are complete and plentiful, starting with the classically minimal "Hello, world!" program).Also, the authors' frequent use of syntactic patterns to formalize the language constructs can seem to obfuscate the text.The book covers only a few of the large number of libraries that comes with a standard Modula-3 distribution, so in many cases you're left to read the HTML documentation provided with the compiler.The good news is that if you download the Critical Mass CM3 compiler, you will get a lot of HTML documentation.

If you do use the CM3 compiler (it's a good one to start with, but installation in MS Windows is non-trivial; in Linux it's no problem), then you must be aware that there are some differences between the book and CM3.The program examples use the SIO package, but the SIO package is no longer bundled with CM3, so you must use the IO package instead.Replace each call to the 'PutText' procedure with 'Put' and you should be able to get started.Other differences between the book and the CM3 implementation can be gleaned from the HTML documentation.Be sure to start with the CM3 tutorial: you will find it in the cm3/doc/tutorial/m3 directory.

If you are familiar with Springer books, then you know what you're getting into.If not, then you might consider a lighter book instead.

Great language, horrible book
Modula-3 is one of the great milestones in programming language design.
It is not, as one of the reviewers of this book has said,
a language whose deficiencies were corrected by C++.
On the contrary, Modula-3 was developed after C++ (in the late 80s) and
in fact corrects many of the deficiencies of that language.Many
of the features of Java and C# were lifted more or less intactly
from Modula-3, and the designers of Java have regretted that
they didn't lift more, as they have had to add generics later.

That being said, this is a terrible book.It is poorly organized
and poorly written.
Greg Nelson's "Systems Programming with Modula-3" is the best book, and most of it is available for
free on the Web.Harbison's "Modula-3" is a good introduction
for someone who just wants to know how to write basic programs
in the language.Unfortunately neither of these books is in
print any longer...

The most complicated and obfuscated programming book ever!
This definitely is not the book I would use if you are forced to learn modula-3. I say forced to learn because it is hardly used, if ever in the industry. I had to learn it due to a programming class. This book has horrible examples, and god-awful explanations. If you have a PhD in Computer Science then this book is for you. For the 99.999% of the worlds population find another book that's not by these authors.

A poorly designed book
If possible, try to avoid the Modula III language all together.Although it encompasses mostly all of the concepts that C++ has, C++ is an outgrowth from the mistakes of Modula III.

I do NOT recommend using this book. Itis grossly unorganized and their explanations are convoluted, not detailed,assumes that the user is using SRC Modula III and that the reader has aprogramming background (although the authors claim otherwise).

Don't buy it, not worth reading or learning Modula-3
I also do not recommend this book to anyone, due to the fact Modula-3 is not even worthlearning. Even if it was, this would not be the book at all to read. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a gentle yet thorough introduction to the Modula-2 language, placing emphasis on good programming style and the importance of defining modules for abstract data types and abstract state machines. ... Read more

Product Description
Artificial intelligence for the personal computer user has arrived. Expert systems, once the domain of academic research, are today's hottest new market in commercial software. Programming Expert Systems in Modula-2 is a do-it-yourself guide to planning, writing and implementing a knowledge-based expert system in the PC environment - using Modula-2 and an "authoring" system developed by Brian Sawyer and Dennis Foster and presented here in its entirety. Creating an expert system can be a daunting job, but the unique authoring system in this book makes it manageable. The book gives you a framework for organizing information and probability data for decision-making and problem-solving in a wide range of fields - business, health care, manufacturing, education and many more. Best of all, you do not have to learn any specialized language associated with artificial intelligence, such as Lisp or Prolog - the entire program can be written in Modula-2.Complete with diagrams, tables, and easy-to-follow listings, the book features proven techniques for building an expert system, from elementary engineering to system architecture; A sample knowledge base demonstrating an expert system "in action"; practical tips on how to use an expert system in common, problem-solving environments and an appendix that lets you convert standard Modula-2 to use Borland International's hot, new, low-priced Turbo Modula-2. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book explains in depth about all aspects of Modula-2.
Very detailed look at all areas of Modula-2. Only problems may lie in specifics of Modula-2 that do not appear in all versions. Plently of exercises with some answers and subjects gone into in depth. All areas introduced with explanations such as stacks, queues and pointers. This language is getting a bit dated now though but does teach modular programming. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook is intended for students of computer science, engineering and mathematics who have no prior knowledge of programming. The emphasis is more on developing good programming style and skills than on the Modula-2 language; however, the complete language is presented. Principles of good style are discussed in terms of how they apply to Modula-2 programs, although they are generally applicable to most recently developed programming languages. In addition, all significant deviations of the VAX, M2SDS and Turbo implementations of Modula-2 are discussed. Almost all sections have a few short exercises, with answers to over 170 of these provided at the end of the book. Furthermore, there are some longer programming problems at the end of each chapter. Suggestions for debugging a program and for avoiding errors appear frequently in the text, and each chapter begins with an overview and ends with a chapter review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great book!
Well..... it's the recommended book for learning Modula2 at theuniversity I study at. I barely went to lectures, I just learntModula2 through this book - I got an "A" for programming ;)

Excellent book for learning programming language
The book is a good book for learning foundation programming structure and the reader can transit easily to other languages such as C, Pascal and etc. within 2-3 hours.

contains helpful code samples of a wide variety
This book explains data structures with modula 2 in an easy to get sort of way. It also provides great code samples like: Stack ADT,Linear list implementation of a stack,ComplexType (implementation), and much much more. Helpful tidbits are abundant in this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This textbook is intended for the novice as well as for the experienced programmer who wants to learn Modula-2. The authors do not just describe Modula-2 but instead seek to familiarize the reader with the concept of algorithms and show how to implement algorithms in Modula-2. Compared to other programming languages, Modula-2 is a compact language, which makes it easy to learn, yet it contains all important language elements necessary for formulating complicated algorithms and for implementing the modern concepts of software engineering. Modula-2 has a systematic structure that makes it possible to write easily readable programs. All this makes Modula-2 a useful instrument for an introduction to the basics of programming. This textbook strives to establish a solid foundation in the techniques of programming with up-to-date methods of program development. Use of the programming language Modula-2 is reinforced with numerous hands-on exercises. The massive collective experience of the authors in teaching numerous courses in this area is evident from the contents and organization of the book. The book does not presuppose any knowledge of programming, it just requires a certain ability in the realm of abstract thinking, some pleasure in problem solving, and a desire to come to terms with complex interrelationships. ... Read more

Product Description
This Modula-2 text not only gives an elementary introduction to Modula-2, but it also covers advanced material suitable for use on a data structures course. There is material for students who want to interact with computers at a low level or who intend to use Modula-2 to construct operating systems. Other features of this text include: end-of-chapter programming examples and exercises graded by degree of difficulty; coverage of ACM-recommended style and documentation, stepwise refinement of programs and data structures, string processing, internal sorting, data structures, recursion, and more advanced topics such as simulation, dynamic data structures, hashing techniques, and information hiding. Parallel examples of Pascal and Modula-2 throughout the text help Pascal trained students learn Modula-2 (students who have not studied Pascal will find sufficient material in the text to learn Modula-2). A Modula-2 command index and syntax chart provides students with additional guidance. This book should be of interest to degree and diploma students on introductory courses in Modula-2 programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good introduction, stressing programming basics.
I had the honor of being in the first test class Dr. Walker conducted with his book. It's a good introduction to the Modula 2 language, taught with emphasis on the basics of structured programming.

Dr. Walker teaches programming languages for a living, and Pascal and Modula 2 are what he does best.

It is not a reference work, however; it is very much a textbook, aimed at programmers who have never worked with the language before. ... Read more