🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <27C2D4B8.3AD3@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes:


	>   >But if "orthogonal" in this sense is supposed to mean "never interact
	>   >at all" you are wrong.
	>
	>   But that's not what I meant, because that's not what the word means!
	>   Compare the Jargon File 2.6.3:
	>
	>   orthogonal: [from mathematics] adj. Mutually independent;
	>      well separated; sometimes, irrelevant to.  Used in a generalization
	>      of its mathematical meaning to describe sets of primitives or
	>      capabilities which, like a vector basis in geometry, span the
	>      entire `capability space' of the system and are in some sense
	>      non-overlapping or mutually independent.  ...
	>
	>   A language may have templates or not, and it may have inheritance or
	>   not; so the features are orgthogonal.  But of course they interact;
	>   it's all one language.

In discussing programming language features, "orthogonal" has a more
specific meaning. Here is one (from M. Jazayeri, "Programming Language
Concepts", p.15)  :

	The principle of 'orthogonality': language features can be
        composed in a free and uniform manner with predictable effects
	and without limitations.

i.e. any meaningful composition of language constructs should be allowed. 

For example, here are some reasons why Pascal is not orthogonal:
1. Files cannot be passed by value.
2. Functions can only return values of some restricted types.

	>   -- 
	>   Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT      <chip@tct.uucp>, <uunet!pdn!tct!chip>
	>   "It's not a security hole, it's a SECURITY ABYSS." -- Christoph Splittgerber
	>      (with reference to the upage bug in Interactive UNIX and Everex ESIX)
	>
	>

Desmond.
--

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 Desmond D'Souza, MCC CAD Program | ARPA: dsouza@mcc.com | Phone: [512] 338-3324
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