An introduction to the Racket functional programming language and DrRacket development environment to explore topics in mathematics (mostly recreational) and computer science.
At last, a lively guided tour through all the features, functions, and applications of the Racket programming language. You'll learn a variety of coding paradigms, including iterative, object oriented, and logic programming; create interactive graphics, draw diagrams, and solve puzzles as you explore Racket through fun computer science topics--from statistical analysis to search algorithms, the Turing machine, and more.
Early chapters cover basic Racket concepts like data types, syntax, variables, strings, and formatted output. You'll learn how to perform math in Racket's rich numerical environment, and use programming constructs in different problem domains (like coding solutions to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle). Later, you'll play with plotting, grapple with graphics, and visualize data. Then, you'll escape the confines of the command line to produce animations, interactive games, and a card trick program that'll dazzle your friends.
You'll learn how to:
• Use DrRacket, an interactive development environment (IDE) for writing programs
• Compute classical math problems, like the Fibonacci sequence
• Generate two-dimensional function plots and create drawings using graphics primitives
• Import and export data to and from Racket using ports, then visually analyze it
• Build simple computing devices (pushdown automaton, Turing machine, and so on) that perform tasks
• Leverage Racket's built-in libraries to develop a command line algebraic calculator
Racket Programming the Fun Way is just like the language itself--an embodiment of everything that makes programming interesting and worthwhile, and that makes you a better programmer.
About the Author
James W. Stelly is a semiretired systems analyst and developer of several business-line applications utilizing backend databases. He has degrees in mathematics and computer science from the University of Houston, and this book is a result of his lifelong interest in those topics.
Author(s): James. W. Stelly
Edition: 1
Publisher: No Starch Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Commentary: Vector PDF
Pages: 360
City: San Francisco, CA
Tags: Programming; Lisp; Turing Machine; Symbolic Computations; Elementary; Racket
Brief Contents
Contents in Detail
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Racket
Conventions Used in This Book
Who This Book Is For
About This Book
Chapter 1: Racket Basics
Atomic Data
Lists
A First Look at Lists
S-Expressions
List Structure
A Few Useful List Functions
Defines, Assigns, and Variables
Symbols, Identifiers, and Keywords
Equality
Strings and Things
Characters
Useful String Functions
String Conversion and Formatting Functions
Vectors
Accessing Vector Elements
Useful Vector Functions
Using structs
Controlling Output
Summary
Chapter 2: Arithmetic and Other Numerical Paraphernalia
Booleans
The Numerical Tower
Integers
Rationals
Reals
Complex Numbers
Numeric Comparison
Combining Data Types
Built-in Functions
Infix Notation
Summary
Chapter 3: Function Fundamentals
What Is a Function?
Lambda Functions
Higher-Order Functions
Lexical Scoping
Conditional Expressions: It's All About Choices
I'm Feeling a Bit Loopy!
Purity
The Power of the Dark Side
The for Family
Time for Some Closure
Applications
I Don't Have a Queue
The Tower of Hanoi
Fibonacci and Friends
The Insurance Salesman Problem
Summary
Chapter 4: Plotting, Drawing, and a Bit of Set Theory
Plotting
X-Y Plots
Parametric Plots
Getting to the Point
Polar Plots
Drawing
Set Theory
The Basics
A Short Mathematical Detour
Drawing Conclusions
Are We Related?
Applications
Fibonacci Revisited
Nim
Summary
Chapter 5: GUI: Getting Users Interested
Introduction to GUIs
Animating a Cycloid
Pick a Card
GUI Layout
Building the Controls
Control Logic
Linear Algebra Zone
Wrapping Up the GUI
Control Tower
Setting Up
Row 1 Widgets
Row 2 Widgets
Getting in Position
Controlling the Animation
Wrapping Things Up
Summary
Chapter 6: Data
I/O, I/O, It's Off to Work We Go
File I/O Ports
String Ports
Computer-to-Computer Ports
Introduction to Security
Getting Data into Racket
A Database Detour
Data Visualization
Plotting for Success
Lumping Things Together
A Bit of Statistics
Standard Deviation
Regression
Summary
Chapter 7: Searching for Answers
Graph Theory
The Basics
Graph Search
The N-Queens Problem
A Racket Solution
Dijkstra's Shortest Path Algorithm
The Priority Queue
The Implementation
The 15 Puzzle
The A* Search Algorithm
The 8-Puzzle in Racket
Moving Up to the 15 Puzzle
Sudoku
Summary
Chapter 8: Logic Programming
Introduction
The Basics
Knowing Your Relatives
Racklog Predicates
Racklog Utilities
Applications
SEND + MORE = MONEY
Fox, Goose, Beans
How Many Donuts?
Boles and Creots
Summary
Chapter 9: Computing Machines
Finite-State Automata
The Turing Machine
A Racket Turing Machine
Pushdown Automata
Recognizing Zeros and Ones
More Zeros and Ones
A Racket PDA
More Automata Fun
A Few Words About Languages
Summary
Chapter 10: TRAC: The Racket Algebraic Calculator
The TRAC Pipeline
The Lexical Analyzer
Regular Expressions
Regular Expressions in Racket
Regular Expressions in TRAC
The Lexer
The Parser
TRAC Grammar Specification
The TRAC Parser
TRAC
Adding a Dictionary
A Few Enhancements
Making Sure TRAC Works Properly
Making an Executable
Summary
Appendix A: Number Basics
Appendix B: Special Symbols
Bibliography
Index
