zenith@uunet.UU.NET (Steven Zenith) (02/10/89)
In article <4282@hubcap.uucp> budd@mist.cs.orst.edu (Tim Budd) writes: >[ Is there a newsgroup specifically devoted to discussion of linda? ] At this stage I feel that this group is the best place for discussion on Linda. The subject needs open debate at this stage to bring more people into contact with the concept. Having said that, when the moderator feels discussion on Linda is getting too much is probably the right time to move. Comment Steve? >I've never been exactly certain of the exact semantics of eval, either. >Here are two questions: >1. Can an eval'ing process in() it's own tuple? does this have any effect >on the executing computation? That is, can I do something like >eval("foo", bar()); >where bar is > >bar() { > ... do some stuff .... > in("foo", x); > ... do some more stuff ... > } > >will all the stuff be performed? The semantics of eval are important. As I understand it (refer to "Linda in Context" Nicholas Carriero and Dave Gelernter) if x is of type INT (assume TS is empty at this stage) in ("foo", x) will block (and so it should too). bar() is a function type and does not therefore match INT. There is a semantic ambiguity if I have such types (process or function types) in my language. Can I in ("foo",? P) where P is type PROC (INT), for example. In a language with such types I would expect to be able to write this and out ("foo", P) and eval("foo", P(n)) If bar() is a function which returns an integer 3, then eval ("foo", bar()) is equivalent to out ("foo", 3) >Is my understanding correct? I would say yes. In article <9572>... Nicholas Carriero writes: >... we are considering adding the adjective "live", which would allow > you to express the paradox of 1. I'm not sure this is such a good idea. Would I get a partial result or am I migrating the process? Please, don't do it ... keep Linda straight forward and elegant. Steven Ericsson Zenith Architecture Group, MCD INMOS. --- * Steven Ericsson Zenith Snail mail: INMOS Limited, 1000 Aztec West, | zenith@inmos.uucp Almondsbury, Bristol BS12 4SQ. UK. zenith@inmos.co.uk Voice: (UK)0454 616616x513 ** All can know beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness **