From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: fac41,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public From: jsa@alexandria (Jon S Anthony) Subject: Re: OO, C++, and something much better! Date: 1997/02/17 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 219479754 Sender: news@organon.com (news) References: <5de62l$f13$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au> Organization: Organon Motives, Inc. Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.ada,comp.object Date: 1997-02-17T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <330794C0.55E@concentric.net> Alan Lovejoy writes: > I don't like the idea of using syntax to define what an operator is. > Especially since that is not the basis for the distinction in math, > which apparently uses the semantics of the function to make the > distinction, as I have suggested should be the case in computer > science (whether we should use the same definition as in math is > another question, however). Yes, but as you hint at, there is no particular reason why "operator" in CS/PL land should mean anything like what "operator" means in mathematics. > And how would you use syntax to tell what is or is not an operator > in a visual programming language that used only icons and no lexical > names? Easy - the icons fit together in some ways (otherwise you'd just have a bunch of fancy glyphs which could not be grouped together to say anything more than what each alone says). The "some ways of fitting together" is just syntax. /Jon -- Jon Anthony Organon Motives, Inc. Belmont, MA 02178 617.484.3383 jsa@organon.com