Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ogicse!uidaho!groucho.mrc.uidaho.edu!windley From: windley@ted.cs.uidaho.edu (Phillip J. Windley) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Algebra .vs. Adjectives and Adverbs Message-ID: Date: 7 May 91 18:12:16 GMT References: <16281.281f708f@levels.sait.edu.au> Sender: @groucho Organization: University of Idaho CS Dept. Lines: 25 In-Reply-To: xtbjh@levels.sait.edu.au's message of 1 May 91 16:21:11 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: panther.cs.uidaho.edu In article <16281.281f708f@levels.sait.edu.au> xtbjh@levels.sait.edu.au (behoffski) writes: I would like raise a topic for discussion based on an idea that I had quite some time ago. The idea is very simple but allows some quite interesting improvements to language design and implementation. The idea is this: programming languages that were originally derived from algebra (Pascal, ADA, C, FORTRAN etc), suffer from algebra's bias towards nouns and verbs over adjectives and adverbs. This deficiency is especially noticeable when trying to build interfaces between system components. [... much deleted ...] Your thesis is intriguing, however, could you give a code segment using adjectives and adverbs to help those of us with small imaginations. You gave a code segment showing what's wrong with exising languages. Can you post the same code using your scheme? -- Phil Windley | windley@cs.uidaho.edu Assistant Professor | windley@cheetah.cs.uidaho.edu Department of Computer Science | University of Idaho | Phone: 208.885.6501 Moscow, ID 83843 | Fax: 208.885.6645