*Avi* I do wonder if someone has already implemented a language that allows sub and superscripts in actual programming.
Why YES. And a long time ago at that. The MADCAP 6 programming language for the MANIAC II computer, starting back in 1970. "A mathematically-natural two-dimensional form for programming" was one of the project criteria, and by June 1973 they said they'd done it. There was an earlier and much less interesting language, so much so that I've forgotten pretty much everything else about it, where each statement was written on three lines: a superscript line, a main line, and a subscript line. Well, with punched cards, that was about as good as you could get, and recalling that Fortran did not then allow subscripted subjects, one subscript line was all you needed. I've often wondered what happened to MADCAP. On Sun, 31 Aug 2025 at 06:41, <avi.e.gr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > ^Richard** : LET'S NOT MUCK AROUND WITH R SYNTAX ANY MORE > > Fully agreed Richard. There is a tax for trying to redeem for an old syn. Who > really wants to pay the price given the disruption it can cause? > > I do wonder if someone has already implemented a language that allows sub and > superscripts in actual programming. Clearly exponentiation could be done if > there was a way, as in LaTeX to specify the beginning of a superscripted > region and the end of it. Modern screens, within limits, could show such > code using smaller fonts or other techniques such as colors albeit a deeply > nested example would be a mess. And, I suspect some languages may not > tolerate it well such as when python uses indentation for grouping. > > ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
