Programming With Sets : An Introduction To SETL 1986 Texts & Monographs

The programming language SETL is a relatively new member of the so-called "very-high-level" class of languages, some of whose other well-known mem­ bers are LISP, APL, SNOBOL, and PROLOG. These languages all aim to reduce the cost of programming, recognized today as a main obstacle to future progress in the computer field, by allowing direct manipulation of large composite objects, considerably more complex than the integers, strings, etc., available in such well-known mainstream languages as PASCAL, PL/I, ALGOL, and Ada. For this purpose, LISP introduces structured lists as data objects, APL introduces vectors and matrices, and SETL introduces the objects characteristic for it, namely general finite sets and maps. The direct availability of these abstract, composite objects, and of powerful mathematical operations upon them, improves programmer speed and pro­ ductivity significantly, and also enhances program clarity and readability.......
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