yorkw@tippy.uucp (12/08/89)
Well I have a Basic Question. WHAT IS THE ICON LANGUAGE? I havent been able to get a good idea from these notes. Well just wondering... C-ya.
kwalker@CS.ARIZONA.EDU ("Kenneth Walker") (12/19/89)
Date: 7 Dec 89 20:56:00 GMT
From: pur-phy!tippy!yorkw@ee.ecn.purdue.edu
Well I have a Basic Question. WHAT IS THE ICON LANGUAGE?
I havent been able to get a good idea from these notes.
Well just wondering...
The following is my standard reply to that question.
Icon is a high level programming language designed for string processing
and other non-numeric applications (numeric processing can be done, but the
language and implementation are not tuned for it). Goal-directed evaluation
with control backtracking is an integral part of the language. However,
Icon is very different from other languages, such as Prolog, which use
this evaluation scheme. Icon has a rich set of control structures which
use and control backtracking. Most of these control structures look and
act very much like the control structures of more traditional languages,
allowing Pascal-like programming where the full power of goal-directed
evaluation is not required. Icon incorporates generators as a natural feature
within this goal-directed evaluation scheme.
Icon has a flexible run-time type system: variables may take on values of
any type and automatic type conversions are preformed as needed by
operations. There are a variety of types including strings, sets, associative
tables, and lists with positional, queue, and stack access methods. All
storage management is automatic; garbage collection is performed as needed.
Ken Walker / Computer Science Dept / Univ of Arizona / Tucson, AZ 85721
+1 602 621 2858 kwalker@cs.arizona.edu {uunet|allegra|noao}!arizona!kwalkermtbb95@ms.uky.edu (Bob Maras) (12/19/89)
I have really enjoyed following the developments of the ICON language that
have been shared with the icon-group. I sort of like the request that was
a simple question, "WHAT IS THE ICON LANGUAGE?"
It might be of great value if all group recipients could receive a few statementthat share the similarities as well as the differences ICON has with other
currently used languages, primarily C, but, also pascal, and even perhaps
simpler languages such as BASIC.
I think that some of these introductory messages may serve well in the drawing
of individuals with programming into the group.
Bob
--
_ _
( ) __ ( )
| O O | B O B M A R A S
/ __ \ /
( \/ ) __/
\ \__/ /
\____/
|_/\_| H A P P Y C O M P U T I N G !!!
mtbb95@ms.uky.edu (Bob Maras) (12/19/89)
Thanks to Ken Walker for a most descriptive summary of the ICON language!!!
Bob
--
_ _
( ) __ ( )
| O O | B O B M A R A S
/ __ \ /
( \/ ) __/
\ \__/ /
\____/
|_/\_| H A P P Y C O M P U T I N G !!!
corre@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Alan D Corre) (12/20/89)
In my view, one of the most useful and characteristic features of Icon is the string scanning facility (marked by the question mark "?") which enables strings to be manipulated simply. In my recently published book "Icon Programming for Humanists" I introduced this feature right at the beginning since it can be utilized with a modest understanding of the rest of the language. Another characteristic feature (mentioned recently in this newsgroup) is the fact that results of procedures can be used Boolean fashion, returning something being equivalent to TRUE. There is a difference from Lisp however, in that the return of a null value still counts as a "success". An American visitor to London once commented to me that in that city they erect railings to stop people from crossing the street mid-block. She commented that in America we believe in freedom, so we allow people to cross and kill themselves. Computer languages are a bit like that. Pascal hems you in with railings. Snobol lets your programs blow up. Icon, it seems to me, strikes a good balance between the Germanic coercion of Pascal and the American permissiveness of Snobol. -- Alan D. Corre Department of Hebrew Studies University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (414) 229-4245 PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201 corre@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
gudeman@CS.ARIZONA.EDU ("David Gudeman") (12/20/89)
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!corre@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Alan D Corre) An American visitor to London once commented to me that in that city they erect railings to stop people from crossing the street mid-block. She commented that in America we believe in freedom, so we allow people to cross and kill themselves. In London, perhaps people respect railings. In America we believe in freedom, so we would jump over or go under :-).
spqr@ecs.southampton.ac.UK (Sebastian P Q Rahtz) (12/20/89)
> An American visitor to London once commented to me that in that city > they erect railings to stop people from crossing the street mid-block. > She commented that in America we believe in freedom, so we allow > people to cross and kill themselves. I have to tell you, from these wet and wild shores, that we don't have blocks on our streets. our permissiveness and freedom is such that most of out cities are built higgledy-piggledy. We also tend to have traffic lights that simply go green, rather than instructing pedestrians to WALK. Icon, of course, is neither wet nor higgledy-piggledy; it always strikes me when I defend or describe it that one of the joys is that fact that it has a specific origin, namely Arizona and Ralph Griswold. Of course lots of people have worked on it, but there is still a feeling that a small group is looking after the language because they care, not to make money or satisfy a committee. We'll know to give up when ISO appoint an Icon committee! Sebastian Rahtz S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET) Computer Science S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet) Southampton S09 5NH, UK S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp (uucp)