Programming in Modula-2 ^{3rd Ed.}

This is the 3rd edition of a successful book which first appeared in 1982. It is an introduction to programming in general as well as a manual for programming with the language Modula-2 in particular. It is oriented primarily towards people who have already acquired some basic knowledge of programming and would like to deepen their understanding in a more structured way. Nevertheless, an introductory chapter is included for the benefit of the beginner, displaying in a concise form some of the fundamental concepts of computers and their programming. The text is therefore also suitable as a self-contained tutorial.

The notation used is Modula-2, which lends itself well for a structured approach and leads the student to a working style that has generally become known under the title of structured programming. Modula-2 is a descendant of Pascal, and is particularly suited for programming larger and more complex systems in a structured way.

As any other language, Modula-2 undergoes a constant development. Therefore, the 3rd edition of this book does not only contain formal connections of the 2nd edition but also modifications of the language Modula-2.

'Programming in Modula-2' by Niklaus Wirth can be considered as the standard reference for Modula-2 programmers.

• Part 1
1. Introduction
2. A first example
3. A notation to describe the syntax of Modula
4. Representation of Modula programs
5. Statements of expressions
6. Control structures
7. Elementary data types
8. Constant and variable declarations
9. The data structure Array
• Part 2
1. Procedures
2. The concept of locality
3. Parameters
4. Function procedures
5. Recursion
• Part 3
1. Type declarations
2. Enumeration types
3. Subrange types
4. Set types
5. Record types
6. Records with variant parts
7. Dynamic data structures and pointers
8. Procedure types
• Part 4
1. Modules
2. Definition and implementation parts
3. Program decomposition into modules
4. Locales modules
5. Sequential input and output
6. Screen-oriented input and output
• Part 5
1. Low-level facilities
2. Concurrent processes and coroutines
3. Device handling, concurrency, and interrupts
• Report on the Programming Language Modula-2
• Appendix 1: The Syntax of Modula-2
• Appendix 2: Standard Utility Modules
• Terminal
• FileSystem
• InOut
• RealInOut
• Windows
• TextWindows
• GraphicWindows
• CursorMouse
• Menu
• Storage
• MathLib0
• Appendix 3: The ASCII Character Set
• Appendix 4

Wirth may be a genius, but I can't understand how this book is supposed to make Modula-2 popular? More boring drivel, you have to actively look for. A disappointment.