rockwell@socrates.umd.edu (Raul Rockwell) (06/29/91)
Richard Harter: Can someone cite some examples where data=program is essential. The canonical examples are: (1) creation of development tools (e.g. debuggers, optimizers, archival systems). (2) symbolic math packages. I'm not sure if these show that data=program is essential, but then data and control flow are just two aspects of the same thing. I think the best argument for a language which can manipulate its own code is Von Neumann's: you can develop faster if you can use the machine to manipulate your code. Another argument is robustness of data structures: such a language must have an adequate set of data structure primitives. Enough said? -- Raul <rockwell@socrates.umd.edu>