An approach to software design that introduces a fully automated analysis giving designers immediate feedback, now featuring the latest version of the Alloy language. In Software Abstractions Daniel Jackson introduces an approach to software design that draws on traditional formal methods but exploits automated tools to find flaws as early as possible. This approach—which Jackson calls “lightweight formal methods” or “agile modeling”—takes from formal specification the idea of a precise and expressive notation based on a tiny core of simple and robust concepts but replaces conventional analysis based on theorem proving with a fully automated analysis that gives designers immediate feedback. Jackson has developed Alloy, a language that captures the essence of software abstractions simply and succinctly, using a minimal toolkit of mathematical notions. This revised edition updates the text, examples, and appendixes to be fully compatible with Alloy 4.

An approach to software design that introduces a fully automated analysis giving designers immediate feedback, now featuring the latest version of the Alloy language. In Software Abstractions Daniel Jackson introduces an approach to software design that draws on traditional formal methods but exploits automated tools to find flaws as early as possible. This approach—which Jackson calls “lightweight formal methods” or “agile modeling”—takes from formal specification the idea of a precise and expressive notation based on a tiny core of simple and robust concepts but replaces conventional analysis based on theorem proving with a fully automated analysis that gives designers immediate feedback. Jackson has developed Alloy, a language that captures the essence of software abstractions simply and succinctly, using a minimal toolkit of mathematical notions. This revised edition updates the text, examples, and appendixes to be fully compatible with Alloy 4.

This text is intended for use in the second programming course Programming is a matter of learning by doing. Eric Roberts' Programming Abstractions in C++ gives students opportunities to practice and learn with engaging graphical assignments. A client-first approach to data structures helps students absorb, and then apply the material. Teaching and Learning Experience This program presents a better teaching and learning experience--for you and your students. It will help: Improve Student Comprehension with a Client-first Approach to Data Structures: To aid in student understanding, this book presents the full set of collection classes early. Defer the Presentation of C++ Features that Require a Detailed Understanding of the Underlying Machine: Introducing collection classes early enables students to master other equally important topics without having to struggle with low-level details at the same time. Engage Students with Exciting Graphical Assignments: An open-source library supports graphics and interactivity in a simple, pedagogically appropriate way. Support Instructors and Students: The companion website provides source code, sample run PDFs, answers to review questions, and more.

For courses in Java Data Structures. Programming Abstractions in Java: A Client-First Approach Programming Abstractions in Java is intended for use in the second programming course in most college or university curriculum. Stanford University's Eric Roberts employs a novel strategy called the client-first approach while maintaining full coverage of the CS2 curriculum. In the traditional approach, students learn how to use a particular data structure, how to implement it, and what its performance characteristics are--all at the same time. Roberts exposes the weakness of this model. In short, students are trying to understand how a structure is implemented before they have mastered how one would use that structure in an application. With Programming Abstractions in Java and Roberts's client-first approach, students learn how to use the full set of collection classes before they tackle any implementation issues. By tackling compelling, real-world assignments in which they use the collection classes as clients, students gain a firm sense of the underlying data model and how each structure can be used. Once they have had time to master the client-side perspective, students are ready to explore the range of possible implementations and their associated computational characteristics. They can also begin to learn the software development skills so desperately needed in the technology industry today.

CONCRETE ABSTRACTIONS offers students a hands-on, abstraction-based experience of thinking like a computer scientist. This text covers the basics of programming and data structures, and gives first-time computer science students the opportunity to not only write programs, but to prove theorems and analyze algorithms as well. Students learn a variety of programming styles, including functional programming, assembly-language programming, and object-oriented programming (OOP). While most of the book uses the Scheme programming language, Java is introduced at the end as a second example of an OOP system and to demonstrate concepts of concurrent programming.

Liskov (engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Guttag (computer science and engineering, also at MIT) present a component- based methodology for software program development. The book focuses on modular program construction: how to get the modules right and how to organize a program as a collection of modules. It explains the key types of abstractions, demonstrates how to develop specifications that define these abstractions, and illustrates how to implement them using numerous examples. An introduction to key Java concepts is included. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.