Doesn't look that way:
a =: 1 + b&+
b =: 1 : 'b'
a 5
|domain error: b
| a 5
b =: 1 : '/'
a 5
|domain error: b
| a 5
Undefined b is assumed to be a verb. When a sentence is parsed, b might
be inside something like b&.> that is replaced by a single anonymous
verb that knows how to handle the compound. If, when execution starts,
it turns out that b isn't a verb, Roger would have to back up in the
parse and try parsing with the new part of speech.
Henry Rich
Tracy Harms wrote:
> It could be an adverb that returns an adverb, couldn't it?
>
> On 5/17/09, Henry Rich <[email protected]> wrote:
>> I don't think you're right about this. b has to be a verb to get results:
>>
>> a =: 1 + b&+
>> b =: +
>> a 5
>> 6
>> b =: 7
>> a 5
>> |domain error: b
>> | a 5
>>
>>
>> Henry Rich
>>
>> Viktor Cerovski wrote:
>>> bill lam-2 wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 16 May 2009, Tracy Harms wrote:
>>>>> invocation, and verbs must be defined prior to execution.
>>>> IIRC undefined name are treated as verb. Suppose b is not yet defined,
>>>>
>>>> a=: 3 + b
>>>> a
>>>> 3 + b
>>>> b=: 1
>>>> a 10
>>>> |domain error: b
>>>> | a 10
>>>> b=: *:
>>>> a 10
>>>> 103
>>>>
>>> It's a bit more complicated. b is more like a free variable of universal
>>> type,
>>> which means it can become anything: noun, verb, adverb or conjunction.
>>>
>>> Such semantics is unusual (I can think only of Mathematica here),
>>> and the up side is that some things, like mutually recursive verbs, or
>>> parametric verbs, are easy to define, but the down side is that we
>>> don't know whether some expression with such a free variable will become
>>> well formed in the course of further interpretation or not, just as your
>>> example
>>> illustrates.
>>>
>>> Another apparently similar, but meaningless, expression is:
>>> c=:d+1
>>> |value error: d
>>> | c=: d+1
>>>
>>>
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