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From: kwalker@CS.ARIZONA.EDU ("Kenneth Walker")
Newsgroups: comp.lang.icon
Subject: Re:  What is ICON?
Message-ID: <8912190159.AA07877@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 89 01:59:14 GMT
References: <134400001@tippy>
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	Date: 7 Dec 89 20:56:00 GMT
	From: pur-phy!tippy!yorkw@ee.ecn.purdue.edu
	
	Well I have a Basic Question. WHAT IS THE ICON LANGUAGE?
	I havent been able to get a good idea from these notes.
	Well just wondering...

The following is my standard reply to that question.

Icon is a high level programming language designed for string processing
and other non-numeric applications (numeric processing can be done, but the
language and implementation are not tuned for it). Goal-directed evaluation
with control backtracking is an integral part of the language. However,
Icon is very different from other languages, such as Prolog, which use
this evaluation scheme. Icon has a rich set of control structures which
use and control backtracking. Most of these control structures look and
act very much like the control structures of more traditional languages,
allowing Pascal-like programming where the full power of goal-directed
evaluation is not required. Icon incorporates generators as a natural feature
within this goal-directed evaluation scheme.

Icon has a flexible run-time type system: variables may take on values of
any type and automatic type conversions are preformed as needed by
operations. There are a variety of types including strings, sets, associative
tables, and lists with positional, queue, and stack access methods. All
storage management is automatic; garbage collection is performed as needed.

  Ken Walker / Computer Science Dept / Univ of Arizona / Tucson, AZ 85721
  +1 602 621 2858  kwalker@cs.arizona.edu {uunet|allegra|noao}!arizona!kwalker