Dylan is a multi-paradigm programming language that includes support for functional and object-oriented programming (OOP), and is dynamic and reflective while providing a programming model designed to support generating efficient machine code, including fine-grained control over dynamic and static behaviors.
Dylan uses an algebraic infix syntax similar to Pascal or C, but supports an object model not unlike the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS).
It was created in the early 1990s by a group led by Apple Computer.
Here’s our recommended tutorials to learn this language.
1. An Introduction to Dylan by Dylan Hackers
Introduction to Dylan is a tutorial written for those with solid programming experience in C++ or another object-oriented, static language. It provides a gentler introduction to Dylan than does the Dylan Reference Manual (DRM).
2. Dylan Programming by Neal Feinberg, Sonya E. Keene, Robert O. Mathews, P. Tucker Withington
This is a book length tutorial to help anyone learning dynamic, object-oriented programming, whether it be in Dylan, Java, Smalltalk, or Lisp.
The primary goals of this book are to teach you how to program in Dylan, and how to write programs in an object-oriented style. Along the way, the authors hope to convince you to use Dylan. It’s intended to be a practical, elegant, and fun language to use. This book is a tutorial on programming in Dylan, and it does the following:
- Begins with the most basic use of Dylan, and gradually expands to show the more powerful and advanced techniques.
- Gives the flavor of working with the Dylan language in a typical Dylan environment.
- Shows how to define classes and methods that work together to solve a problem.
- Shows how to use many of Dylan’s classes, functions, and features to good effect within the context of an example application.
- Introduces the more advanced features of Dylan, including multiple inheritance, performance, exceptions, and macros.
3. Building Applications With DUIM by Dylan Hackers
This manual, Building Applications using DUIM, provides an introduction to developing your own windowed applications using Open Dylan and, in particular, the interface-building functionality provided by the DUIM library suite. It is designed to complement Getting Started with Open Dylan, which provides information on using the Open Dylan development environment, and the DUIM Reference Manual, which provides a complete reference to the DUIM library suite.
All tutorials in this series:
| Free Programming Tutorials | |
|---|---|
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| C | General-purpose, procedural, portable, high-level language |
| Python | General-purpose, structured, powerful language |
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| ABAP | Advanced Business Application Programming |
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| Dylan | Multi-paradigm language, supports functional & object-oriented programming |
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