Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!sunic!enea!sommar
From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Arrays in languages
Message-ID: <861@enea.se>
Date: 9 Mar 90 23:59:44 GMT
References: <9230@wpi.wpi.edu>
Organization: Enea Data AB, Sweden
Lines: 21

Joseph H Allen (jhallen@wpi.wpi.edu) writes:
> (the nicest array language I've ever used was a version of BASIC which
> didn't have a DIM statement but which handled arrays of arbitrary
> dimension and size.  I.E., you could just say 'A(1,5,10)=7' and it
> would allocate the array for you.  You could then say 'A(1,5,10,8)=9'
> and it would make the element A(1,5,10) contain a sub-array... Is
> there any other language with this power?

Sounds like you're speaking of MUMPS. Also, in MUMPS you're
not restricted to integer indexes. If you want 
    A("This key", "That key")
just go for it. And if you put a ^ before the A you have a global
variable, which in MUMPS terminolgy means that it is stored on
disk. Files is low-level concept never heard of in MUMPS. On
the other hand, the language does not allow parameters in 
subroutine calls...

Disclaimer: I worked with MUMPS in 1981. Things may have changed
since then.
-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se