Purely Functional Data Structures

This book describes data structures and data structure design techniques for functional languages.

Most books on data structures assume an imperative language like C or C++. However, data structures for these languages do not always translate well to functional languages such as Standard ML, Haskell, or Scheme. This book describes data structures from the point of view of functional languages, with examples, and presents design techniques so that programmers can develop their own functional data structures. It includes both classical data structures, such as red-black trees and binomial queues, and a host of new data structures developed exclusively for functional languages. All source code is given in Standard ML and Haskell, and most of the programs can easily be adapted to other functional languages. This handy reference for professional programmers working with functional languages can also be used as a tutorial or for self-study.

1. Introduction; 2. Persistence; 3. Some familiar data structures in a functional setting; 4. Lazy evaluation; 5. Fundamentals of amortization; 6. Amortization and persistence via lazy evaluation; 7. Eliminating amortization; 8. Lazy rebuilding; 9. Numerical representations; 10. Data-structural bootstrapping; 11. Implicit recursive slowdown; Appendix: Haskell source code.

Most books on data structures assume an imperative language. However, their data structures do not translate well to functional languages. This book describes data structures and data structure design techniques from the point of view of functional languages. It is a reference for functional programmers and a text for self-study.