Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-ncis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!purdue!haven!uvaarpa!babbage!mac3n
From: mac3n@babbage.acc.virginia.edu (Alex Colvin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Bondage and Discipline Languages (shells != not data flow)
Summary: filter <x >x
Message-ID: <487@babbage.acc.virginia.edu>
Date: 6 Jan 89 23:12:52 GMT
References: <27309@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <2269@eos.UUCP> <2626@ficc.uu.net>
Organization: University of Virginia
Lines: 15

> I can't agree. That's like saying the only lisp is pure lisp, since in pure
> lisp there are no side effects... only the return value of a function is
> used.
> 
> Just because X has additional features other than those in a pure Y language,
> doesn't mean that X isn't a Y language. The shell and Icon are dataflow
> languages with side effects.

true, the shell could be called a dataflow language if it ALLOWED
(not REQUIRED) you to write dataflow programs.

unfortunately, it doesn't.  you have to be careful about file use conflicts,
such as "filter <x >x".  no cycles (deadlocks).
not to mention the difficulty of anything but a straight-line pipe.
i'd look for something more like Lucid.