[prog] re the difference between various types of programming languauges, oo, logic etc

[Aguido Horatio Davis]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2003, Guru - wrote:

> My question is with regard to the different types of programming languauges,
> oo, logic etc.

[snip]

> I'm just wondering if someone could point me to a resource which explains
> the differences....

A starting point might be the languages discussion in Eric Raymond's "The
Art of Unix Programming", drafts of which are currently pinned up at

http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/

He's a bit pro-Python and anti-Microsoft biased, though. For a coherent
theoretical discussion of the deep differences between various language
families, and why they matter, you might also care to look at "Structure and
Interpretation of Computer Programs" at

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

It's the MIT introductory text for their CS undergrads, but still fairly
chunky. What would people recommend as something with a gentler learning
curve?

Cheers,

Horatio