Dyadic execute

Abstract

The quotes that distinguish a constant from a name are inconvenient in an expression dominated by constants, and they critically overload the quote character if monadic Execute is also used. When constants predominate, the declarative burden can be shifted to the names by means of a dyadic Execute function that takes a list of "names" as its left argument. A token in the right argument that does not appear in the left argument is a constant even when not enclosed in quotes. This technique would be useful to the programmer in a variety of ways, and it suggests two related functions for the user: an evaluated but nameless input for commands and data entry, and a primitive for text processing that would partition but not evaluate its argument. The new primitives would not extend the language so much as they would vary an existing function, bringing certain of its properties under explicit control. (The models of the new primitives use a function-definition statement based on αϖ-notation. The compiler for the statement uses the statement extensively, and it can also recompile itself.)