Re: Example of expression bias?

From: paul c <toledobythesea_at_oohay.ac>
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:01:23 GMT
Message-ID: <TL1mg.65706$iF6.50801@pd7tw2no>

Marshall wrote:
> paul c wrote:

>> just trying to read Backus' ACM speech/paper and notice he uses the word
>> "objects' to try to get his FP stuff off the ground.  i think i've seen
>> it used lots of times as a place-holder to make another point.  not sure
>> why it's a bad sign, unless you mean wrt mainstream rt.

>
> Not sure which paper you mean. Backus won the Turing award in 1977,
> and the associated paper is "Can Programming Be Freed from the
> Von Neuman Style." An interesting paper but not one I find very
> compelling. I like the emphasis on functional style, but dislike
> the effort he goes through to get rid of names; I don't think
> that's a good choice. The APL family shows what comes of
> this approach; I don't think it produces programs that are
> very readable or maintainable.
>
> Also, 1977 was before the term "object" came to be dominated
> by OOP meaning. The word itself is fairily generic, like "entity"
> or even "thing."
> ...

Right.

> These days I often find myself wanting a word like that and almost
> saying "object" but catching myself because I don't want to invoke
> OOP. I sometimes substitute "construct" which is nicely free of
> connotations.
> ...

It's been usurped.

p Received on Tue Jun 20 2006 - 21:01:23 CDT