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From: gudeman@CS.ARIZONA.EDU (David Gudeman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.icon
Subject: Algol->Icon & Pascal
Message-ID: <9105142312.AA11405@orator.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 14 May 91 23:12:59 GMT
References: <1991May14.222651.16502@midway.uchicago.edu>
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>From: Richard L. Goerwitz

>...  I'm also a
>bit curious why the notion of functions and procedures was collap-
>sed into procedures, and yet with retention of the notion that a
>procedure is a value (i.e. like what we normally associate with fun-
>ctions).

I assume you are talking about the Pascal distinction that functions
are expression (things that return values) and procedures are
statements (things that change variables but don't return values).
But Icon doesn't have statements --only expressions-- so there is no
such distinction to make.

As to procedures being values, there is nothing unlikely about
procedures-as-values even for Pascal-style procedures.  It's just not
traditional for Pascal-like languages to have procedures or functions
as first-class values.