On Jun 13, 2006, at 4:24 PM, Michael L Torrie wrote:
... Things like lambda expressions
allow you to do all kinds of need things that are intellectually
appealing, clean, and logical, even if they aren't necessarily
efficient
from the CPU's point of view. Seems to me that "conventional"
languages
end up sacrificing proper computer science in order to better utilize
our current computer architectures (a good trade-off). LISP
techniques
provide a certain elegance that are very appealing. Now a coder would
probably find himself hindered by LISP-isms.
Actually, lambda expressions were used to debunk the myth of the
expensive procedure call[1], which helped the adoption of the
structured programming languages that we all use today. The elegance
of lambda expressions isn't just appealing from an aesthetic
viewpoint, but their mathematical properties make it straightforward
to implement program transformations that can make programs better
suited for our computers[2].
--Levi
[1]: http://library.readscheme.org/servlets/cite.ss?pattern=Ste-77
"Debunking the 'Expensive Procedure Call' Myth, or, Procedure Call
Implementations Considered Harmful, or, Lambda: The Ultimate GOTO -
Guy Lewis Steele, Jr."
[2]: http://mumble.net/~kelsey/papers/comp-by-prog-trans.ps.gz
"Realistic Compilation by Program Transformation - Richard A. Kelsey
with Paul Hudak"
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