On Thu, 5 Aug 2010 12:57:08 David Gamey wrote: > > I came to Icon from SPITBOL/SNOBOL4 and still to this day have what > I'd characterize as translation moments where I still think in > SPITBOL patterns.
> Even if the syntax was the assembler from hell > ;-) I refrained from that obvious stab against SNOBOL. 'twouldn't be fair or relevant > There are also a lot of open questions. Pattern Matching in SNOBOL > was always a language within a language. Putting it back into Unicon > raises that again. How it integrates with the larger language is > one of those. Also the ability to mix patterns/scanning/matching is > an open question. I suspect general integration with scanning (i.e. > backing up) is less likely than with matching. > Generators managed to become beautifully integrated. I expect the biggest incompatibility is that currently, Icon has immutable strings? I don't recall how the thesis responded to this, but something's got to give. > I'm not sure about the 'klunkiness' of the syntax. Certainly the > deferred expressions are but they've already been called out as a > kludge. > I'm thinking more the operators like && and .| or -> and $$ not being particularly symmetrical. Although ?? is a nice -looking choice in isolation, if SNOBOL's || has to be mapped to .| then maybe && and ?? should be .& and .? just for consistency. Of course I'm just chewing the fat here. Also, without really knowing what I'm talking about, perhaps `expr` could be more consistently lodged behind an operator akin to create which implies a kind of deferred execution already. > Basically, you have to use it to gain the understanding you're > looking for. > I think you might be right. One approach would be to get the samples working for me (hopefully just with cut-n-paste), understand them, and then attempt to rewrite using my standard Icon style of pattern matching and collection of results. Perhaps that would highlight the differences. I think re-reading the thesis is in order now that I've been through the SNOBOL books. I'm keen to find out what I don't know I'm missing. Is there scope for a little competition in this regard? Perhaps the fun factor would get more people trying it, leading to better feedback and increasing demand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Palm PDK Hot Apps Program offers developers who use the Plug-In Development Kit to bring their C/C++ apps to Palm for a share of $1 Million in cash or HP Products. Visit us here for more details: http://p.sf.net/sfu/dev2dev-palm _______________________________________________ Unicon-group mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unicon-group
