This textbook supports a new trend in teaching a first course in computer science. From the beginning, it presents the basic principles of computer science from an object-oriented perspective, through the process of object modeling. The author thinks that before students learn to program, they should be introduced to modeling. This approach is supported by an easy-to-learn object-oriented programming language, Eiffel. The object-oriented perspective is quite distinct from the traditional approach. It emphasizes abstractions in problem solving in general, and the use of abstract data types in particular.

The book consists of nine chapters and three appendices. It is aimed at students of computer science and at software development professionals who are new to the object-oriented paradigm. Eiffel is readable, friendly, and consistent, and has clean and simple syntax and semantics. It also supports safe and defensive programming.

This book consists of nine chapters and three appendices. Chapter 1 provides a short historical perspective on computation and introduces some basic notions of programming. In chapter 2, basic object-oriented notions are presented and elements of object modeling are given. Chapter 3 uses appropriate small examples to illustrate basic elements of Eiffel programs (basic types, default values, assignment, ordinary or reference type objects, copying and cloning objects, basic operators, statements and routines, arrays and strings, and the basic elements of storing data). Chapter 4 covers basic sorting algorithms: bubble sort, insertion sort, and gap sort. The chapter ends with some brief remarks about the traveling salesman and knapsack problems. In chapter 5, some relatively simple, but complete, Eiffel components and systems are constructed. Also, the dice problem is presented, solved, and applied to the horse race game. Chapter 6 discusses some technical details and issues associated with the most important elements of class construction in Eiffel. Chapter 7 examines several different types of container object class (stacks, unordered lists, and queues), which are useful for illustrating software reuse. Because recursion is a powerful and sometimes subtle design principle, some algorithms (binary search, quick-sort, and binary search tree) are expressed recursively in chapter 8. As a more complex application of recursion, the author presents a depth-first search of a graph and the airline connection problem in chapter 9.

Each chapter finishes with a summary and many appropriate exercises. Appendices contain interfaces for several classes used throughout the book.

Physically and technically, the book is perfect. Nevertheless, in spite of the many examples and the gradual presentation of the material, the book cannot easily be followed by complete novices in computer science. Some basic knowledge of programming and some basic elements of traditional, procedural programming languages are prerequisites for its use. However, it is among the most useful books for introducing the basic principles of the object-oriented methodology to everyone with experience in procedural programming.