Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!morrison
From: morrison@cs.ubc.ca (Rick Morrison)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Reflective Languages
Message-ID: <8800@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jul 90 21:48:09 GMT
Sender: news@cs.ubc.ca
Reply-To: morrison@cs.ubc.ca (Rick Morrison)
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 18

There have been several references to reflective languages here recently
including at least one posting claiming to provide a definition.
Now, I'm hardly prepared to admit the existence of programs that can
"reason" about gray elephants or birds that don't fly, let alone themselves.
Would someone please provide a concrete example of the application of
reflective capabilities in a language that supports such. In particular,
it would be useful to highlight why the task cannot be accomplished
in a "conventional" language.

If I squint my eyes and don't look too closely the idea sounds interesting,
but at the moment I have the uneasy feeling that reflection is yet 
another AI boondoggle for attracting research bucks.
------------------------------
Rick Morrison		 | {alberta,uw-beaver,uunet}!ubc-cs!morrison
Dept. of Computer Science| morrison@cs.ubc.ca
Univ. of British Columbia| morrison%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5  | morrison@ubc.csnet (ubc-csgrads=137.82.8.20)
(604) 228-5010