A computer science book to learn about interpreter, VM etc

[flexaxis]

I learned HTML and then I learned programming. Have been a JAVA
programmer for a bunch of years and now I have been working on Rails
for more than six months. Never worked on C though.

I am having trouble understanding this thread.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/d69165ad2b711c2c#

But I want to understand what is being discussed. I guess I need a
computer science book which describes what exactly interpreting means.
Also the other day some guys were talking about ERB being interpreted
but liquid (shopify guys) not being interpreted. I couldn't follow
that too. Also I can't follow what is "Iron ruby". I mean what does it
mean to have ruby being ported to .NET .


Could you please refer me a book or two which explains these computer
science fundamentals. Also note that I don't have much background to
build up on so please refer books which are not too *geeky*.

Thanks

 

[Phillip Gawlowski]

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(e-mail address removed) wrote:
| I learned HTML and then I learned programming. Have been a JAVA
| programmer for a bunch of years and now I have been working on Rails
| for more than six months. Never worked on C though.
|
| I am having trouble understanding this thread.
|
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/d69165ad2b711c2c#
|
| But I want to understand what is being discussed. I guess I need a
| computer science book which describes what exactly interpreting means.

Interpreted: translated into machine code every time the source is executed.

Compiled: 'Translated' into the machine code once, and then executed
from this object code (C) / byte code (Java) / Intermediary Language (.NET).

| Also the other day some guys were talking about ERB being interpreted
| but liquid (shopify guys) not being interpreted. I couldn't follow
| that too. Also I can't follow what is "Iron ruby". I mean what does it
| mean to have ruby being ported to .NET .

IronRuby is 'just' an implementation of Ruby for the .NET language
platform (IIRC, they use C#). It is about the same as writing Ruby in C,
and comparable to JRuby, a Ruby implementation using the Java language.

| Could you please refer me a book or two which explains these computer
| science fundamentals. Also note that I don't have much background to
| build up on so please refer books which are not too *geeky*.

I think the Red Dragon Book is the de facto standard work on compiler
theory.[0]

However, from what I know, the book as anything but non-geeky...


N.B.: This is all from a layman's perspective, too. :|

[0]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compilers:_Principles,_Techniques,_and_Tools

- --
Phillip Gawlowski
Twitter: twitter.com/cynicalryan
Blog: http://justarubyist.blogspot.com

~ What's the point of wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if
nobody ever asks to see 'em? -- Calvin
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[Eleanor McHugh]

I learned HTML and then I learned programming. Have been a JAVA
programmer for a bunch of years and now I have been working on Rails
for more than six months. Never worked on C though.

I am having trouble understanding this thread.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/d69165ad2b711c2c#

But I want to understand what is being discussed. I guess I need a
computer science book which describes what exactly interpreting means.
Also the other day some guys were talking about ERB being interpreted
but liquid (shopify guys) not being interpreted. I couldn't follow
that too. Also I can't follow what is "Iron ruby". I mean what does it
mean to have ruby being ported to .NET .


Could you please refer me a book or two which explains these computer
science fundamentals. Also note that I don't have much background to
build up on so please refer books which are not too *geeky*.

It's probably out of print, but 'Programming Languages - An
Interpreter-Based Approach' by Samuel N. Kamin is my fave book on the
subject. It's a treatment of several families of programming languages
(functional, OO, Lisp, etc.) which presents simplified interpreters
and includes a chapter on Compilation. The code is in Pascal but don't
be put off by that as it's clearly documented and Pascal is a very
easy language to understand.

There's probably also a discussion of these and other concepts in
'Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs' by Abelson and
Sussman, but as my copy seems to have gone MIA I can't check at the
moment.


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://slides.games-with-brains.net

 

[Andrew Stewart]

I learned HTML and then I learned programming. Have been a JAVA
programmer for a bunch of years and now I have been working on Rails
for more than six months. Never worked on C though.

Could you please refer me a book or two which explains these computer
science fundamentals. Also note that I don't have much background to
build up on so please refer books which are not too *geeky*.

If you're familiar with Java, you should be able to make good progress
with this:

Programming Language Processors in Java - Compilers and Interpreters
by David A Watt, Deryck F Brown

Regards,
Andy Stewart

 

[Chris Hulan]

On May 8, 8:03 am, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
....

Could you please refer me a book or two which explains these computer
science fundamentals. Also note that I don't have much background to
build up on so please refer books which are not too *geeky*.

Not sure how easy this text is but its free 9^):
http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Books/ProgLangs/2007-04-26/