A Look at Functional Programming with Standard ML

This book uses the Standard ML programming language as a vehicle to study functional programming. Learn about type deduction, pattern matching, currying, partial application, composition of functions, and why variables and loops really aren't needed!

This book is intended primarily as a text for a one-semester course for beginners, it uses the functional language ML (Meta Language).

The book is well written and the author admirably simplifies a number of topics not ordinarily presented in an introductory text. It provides some exercises, but probably not enough; most of them are rather mechanical. It also provides at least partial solutions or hints for all the exercises. The list of references is not extensive, but it is current and should be adequate.