Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!cornell!batcomputer!left!gary
From: gary@left.soe.clarkson.edu (Gary Levin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Returning multiple values
Message-ID: <509@left.soe.clarkson.edu>
Date: 7 Mar 88 16:08:30 GMT
References: <25284@cca.CCA.COM> <700@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: gary@left.mcs.clarkson.edu.UUCP (Gary Levin)
Distribution: na
Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY
Lines: 37
Keywords: SETL ISETL
Summary: Call by ref can be replaced by more powerful assignment

References from previous articles are below my follow-up.

SETL has always permitted assignments to tuples (its name for lists),
and functions can return tuples.  The assignment
    [x,y] := [y,x];
provides swap, for instance.

SETL was developed at the Courant Institute.  See Schwartz et al.
Programming with sets: An introduction to SETL.  Springer-Verlag, 1986.

Those interested in trying SETL can write to me.  I have developed an
interactive version of SETL, called ISETL.  It is highly portable,
written in C, and available for MS-DOS (256K min), Mac, Vax (Unix and
VMS), Suns.  Source is available for those wishing to compile for
other machines.  If you get it electronically, there is no fee.  $10
for printed documentation, $10 per media shipped.


===== Original ====
In article <700@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>In article <25284@cca.CCA.COM>, g-rh@cca.CCA.COM (Richard Harter) writes:
>			........
>>                But how do I get stuff back.  I can pass one thing back
>> via the return statement.  To pass more than one thing I have to play
>> games.   ...
>
>No, what is needed is to abandon the mistaken notion that a function
>returns a single result.  From day one, lists should have been allowed
>to the left of the replacement sign--this is not just for functions,
>but even for direct operators.  For example, ...

---
Gary Levin / Clarkson Univ / Potsdam, NY 13676 (315) 268-2384
gary@clutx.bitnet, gary@clutx.clarkson.edu
-- 
Gary Levin / Clarkson Univ / Potsdam, NY 13676 (315) 268-2384
gary@clutx.bitnet, gary@clutx.clarkson.edu