Aucbvax.5698
net.applic
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!baden
Wed Jan 6 20:25:30 1982
identifiers in FP
I have completed a new version of my FP interpreter (implements Backus'
functional language) basically it includes the associative (tree) insert
functional form. This is due to Dorab Patel (ucla-vax!patel).
I am distributing the software via tape if you are interested. A user's
guide is also available.
Is there anyone out there who has used a single
assigment language? I find the use of mnemonic rather than numerical names
to be very akward.
e.g. define fn == g @ [1,2,h@3]
where '@' stands for functional composition.
Why not:
define fn<A,B,C> == g @ [a,b,h@c]
another reason: sometime one continually reforms sequence after breaking
it apart (for the purposes of extracting an argument):
define fn == h @ [1,2,a@3,4] @ [1,b@2,3,4]
why not: define fn<L,M,N,P> ==
v[1] <- : A B H L M V[2] <L,V[2],V[3],P <->
(the final application is the result).
This is alot easier to read, and DOES NOT violate the side-effect
free property of the language (cannot use variables as object parameters
for say the constant functional form).
Any comments?
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