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Textbooks

Michele Rallo edited this page Jun 24, 2025 · 1 revision

This page catalogs textbooks and educational resources that teach or make significant use of Miranda. Most of these texts are from the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period during which Miranda was widely used in functional programming education, especially in UK universities.

📖 Notable Textbooks

1. Programming with Miranda

Authors: C. Clack, C. Myers, E. Poon

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1991

ISBN: 978-0137275950

Summary: A beginner-friendly textbook that teaches the core concepts of functional programming using Miranda. Topics include recursion, list comprehensions, pattern matching, and algebraic data types. Widely used in university courses.

2. An Introduction to Functional Programming

Authors: Richard Bird, Philip Wadler

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1988

ISBN: 978-0134843466

Summary: A seminal text in functional programming theory and practice. Though more abstract and mathematically rigorous than others, this book uses Miranda to demonstrate concepts like higher-order functions, lazy evaluation, and program derivation. Highly influential in the development of Haskell.

3. Functional Programming with Miranda

Author: Ian Holyer

Publisher: Pitman, 1991

ISBN: 978-0273030814

Summary: A concise and accessible introduction to functional programming using Miranda. Covers all core language features and includes numerous examples and exercises, making it suitable for self-study and undergraduate teaching.

4. Introduction to Functional Programming using Miranda

Author: Malcolm Dowse

Publisher: Wiley, 1989

ISBN: 978-0471922925

Summary: Designed for beginners, this book focuses on fundamental programming concepts as expressed in Miranda. Includes sections on reasoning about programs, list processing, and types. Often used in early academic curricula.

5. The Craft of Functional Programming (First Edition)

Author: Simon Thompson

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 1991

ISBN: 978-0201416620

Summary: The first edition of this well-regarded book uses Miranda to introduce functional programming concepts through practical problem-solving. Later editions shifted to Haskell, but this version remains valuable for those interested in learning Miranda.

6. Functional Programming: Practice and Theory

Editors: B. Watson, R. Bird, P. Aczel, C. Hughes

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1990

Summary: A collection of papers and essays discussing both the theoretical and practical aspects of functional programming, many of which use Miranda for demonstration.

🏫 Academic Use

Miranda was adopted for teaching in numerous universities, particularly in the UK, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Institutions like:

  • University of Oxford
  • University of Kent
  • University of Bristol
  • University of Glasgow

used Miranda in first-year programming courses and functional programming modules.

🧠 Concepts Commonly Taught with Miranda

  • Lazy evaluation
  • Recursive functions
  • Higher-order functions
  • Pattern matching
  • Equational reasoning
  • List comprehensions
  • Algebraic data types

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