Ken Sailor writes:
>On the other hand, general functions and arrays are typically mixed in
>a program. If the distinction between the two is limited to type
>declarations, then from my perspective it becomes difficult to read
>and understand programs. The difference between functions as rules
>and arrays to me is much more significant than the difference between
>adding reals and adding integers. From your perspective, maybe any
>distinction gets in the way. In practice, I have not had this
>problem.
The distinction indeed gets in the way; however, this may well be a
product of the application area in which I am working (I *did* admit
my bias in all this). If we define the behavior of an engineering
component in a microwave system by a function, the distinction between
whether that function is defined by an array (table of values) or a
rule (a function definition in the present Haskell sense) had better
be hidden! We want very much to treat these independent of the
mechanism of defining them.
I am interested in how the lack of a distinction gets in the way of
your reading and understanding programs, however. After all, I do
want to make sure we are not introducing problems here! Granting that
this is a somewhat theoretical discussion, could you elaborate a bit
here? What kind of expression would become difficult to understand if
the distinction between arrays and rule-defined functions was hidden?
I don't want to impose on your time unreasonably, but a couple of
small examples might be helpful.
Dave Barton
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
