Path: csiph.com!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder3.hal-mli.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!mpls-nntp-01.inet.qwest.net!feed.news.qwest.net!mpls-nntp-06.inet.qwest.net!216.196.98.143.MISMATCH!border4.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: Gene Wirchenko Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming language design? Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:00:18 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 30 Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <12-03-046@comp.compilers> References: <12-03-012@comp.compilers> <12-03-013@comp.compilers> <12-03-038@comp.compilers> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.iecc.com X-Trace: leila.iecc.com 1332281579 5406 64.57.183.58 (20 Mar 2012 22:12:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iecc.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:12:59 +0000 (UTC) Keywords: design, syntax, comment Posted-Date: 20 Mar 2012 18:12:59 EDT X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:513 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]