🚀 go-pugleaf

hrubin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
: Nobody on this net, or others I have discussed this with, know of the 
: existence of a versatile syntax converter (macro processor).  Bob Silverman
: and Peter Montgomery have considerable contacts here, and they know of no
: such thing.  There are many macro processors out which at least handle some
: problems with macro name first, but apart from compilers, I know of none
: which would allow someone to write (Bob Silverman's notation) 
: 
: 	c = a ** b
: 
: and have it translated into 
: 
: 	c = doubmult(a,b).
: 
: C++ could hopefully do something intelligent with the second, so why
: do you guys who say that you are giving us everything to make life
: easy provide at least the translation facilities?


Translation: 

  Prof. Rubin wants to use a syntax which cannot be parsed with the
"standard" tools of compiler contruction kits.  Think of 
the old standbys "lex 'n' yacc"---he essentially wants something in
which the "tables" themselves could somehow be altered using langauge
statements.  Maybe the world doesn't revolve around statically generated
context-free unambiguous grammars.

Too many computer scientists think that "syntax is trivial" or "syntax
is uninteresting", which it may be to the inside of a compiler, but isn't
to ordinary users.

Now we come to the hard part:  what type of computer notations could
be made to work?

What would be truly too difficult to do, and what would be "simply a
matter of programming?"

: -- 
: Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
: Phone: (317)494-6054
: hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
: {purdue,pur-ee}!snap.stat!hrubin(UUCP)

--
-Matt Kennel  		mbk@inls1.ucsd.edu
-Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego
-*** AD: Archive for nonlinear dynamics papers & programs: FTP to
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