CTM certainly does make the point. I'm arguing that this is so central to Oz that the point should be made more forcefully and more visibly. It's probably one of the most important points to make to programmers who are trying to learn Oz.
I've added a section on Data Flow Variables to the page on what programmers should know about Oz:
http://cs.calstatela.edu/~wiki/index.php/Courses/CS_460/Fall_2005/What_programmers_should_know_about_Oz#Data_flow_variables
I'd be very interested in your comments. As I was writing it, an interesting parallel occurred to me. I've noted it the bottom of that section. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on that also.
-- Russ
On 10/19/05, Peter Van Roy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Russ Abbott wrote:
> I think I finally put my finger on how to characterize what's
> confusing about Oz. Let me know what you think of this:
> http://cs.calstatela.edu/~wiki/index.php/Courses/CS_460/Fall_2005/What_programmers_should_know_about_Oz
> <http://cs.calstatela.edu/%7Ewiki/index.php/Courses/CS_460/Fall_2005/What_programmers_should_know_about_Oz >.
> It is the second part, what I call the Oz communitarian run-time
> environment, that is particularly important.
>
> CTM does make it clear from the start (1.11) that Oz operates this
> way. What I don't think it does is to clarify how different this
> makes programming in Oz from programming in other languages. In 1.11,
> dataflow variable seem like a cute trick. They are far more
> significant than that, and they have far stronger implications about
> how to understand the semantics of Oz programs. That should be brought
> out and stressed, and programmers should be warned about how often and
> in how wide a range of circumstances threads suspend.
>
> -- Russ
In CTM see section 2.2.8 Dataflow Variables (page 47) for an explanation
of how dataflow variables make programming different from other languages.
See also page 89 'Dataflow execution' that makes exactly the point that you
are making.
Peter
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