Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!mccarrol
From: mccarrol@topaz.rutgers.edu (<MC>)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Icon, was:Re: Discussions of languages (Was: Re: Modern langauges)
Message-ID: <17327@topaz.rutgers.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 88 17:21:56 GMT
References: <enea.2553> <1520@ogcvax.UUCP> <enea.2570> <1522@ogcvax.UUCP> <2582@enea.se> <3315@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 34


]My favorite language is Icon :-) :-); this language is VERY loosely typed.  My
]problems usually don't come about because of type differences (Note:  since it
]is an interpretive language it does provide the equivalent of runtime checks).
]This language helps me find my logic bugs (I don't have to worry about silly
]little things like stacks and lists; they are built into the language.
]
]One of the philosophies of Icon is that every function should either return a
]useful value or fail (i.e., x < y returns y if true; otherwise fails).  Another
]thing is that functions can return more than one value (generators; i.e.,
]find(s1,s2) returns all the positions of s1 in s2, and fails when it can't find
]any more).  I love these concepts; what do others' think?
]
	Since I just started reading some info on Icon this week, and
you seem to be fairly interested in it, I have a couple of questions
about Icon. It seems to be a language with a lot of excellent concepts
(generators in particular strike me as being a great idea..). But it
doesn't seem to me to be terribly useful in general. It seems like it 
could do awk type jobs extremely well, but from what I've seen, it
doesn't seem to be terribly good at much else. What is it intended
for? Is it basically a text processing language, is it just something
to try out some new ideas, or have I totally missed something?

] _ __			NEVIN J. LIBER	..!ihnp4!ihlpf!nevin1	(312) 510-6194
]' )  )				"The secret compartment of my ring I fill
] /  / _ , __o  ____		 with an Underdog super-energy pill."
]/  (_</_\/ <__/ / <_These are solely MY opinions, not AT&T's, blah blah blah

		-Mark
-- 
"It is a principle of the music/to repeat the theme |Mark C. Carroll
Repeat/and repeat again/as the pace mounts.  /------/Rutgers U CS Student
The theme/is difficult/but no more difficult |ARPA  :CARROLL@AIM.RUTGERS.EDU
than the facts to be/resolved"-WC Williams   |Usenet:mccarrol@topaz.rutgers.edu