Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming language design?

On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:51:31 +0100, torbenm@diku.dk (Torben Fgidius
Mogensen) wrote:


[snip]


>But intuitive syntax can also mean consistent, unambiguous and without
>arbitrary restrictions, which certainly does not apply to C-style
>syntax. In a way, APL syntax is very intuitive: Operators are single
>characters, so you dont have problems parsing things like a+++b, where
>it is not clear where one operator ends and the next begins, evaluation


          Greedy parsing. Fornm the longest token. That is
                    a ++ + b


>order is consistent and there are few special cases.


          IIRC, APL had some operators formed by use of backspace.


          APL's right-to-left expression evaluation is unusual.


[snip]


Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
[All APL operators are single characters, but given the limitations of
Selectric typewriters and keyboards, they composed some of them by
overstriking. APL doesn't evaluate from right to left, it groups from
right to left, which is different. The evaluation order within an
expression is generally invisible to the programmer unless you do
squirelly things with embedded assignments. -John]

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