Denotational semantics of a goal-directed language
- 2 January 1992
- journal article
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems
- Vol. 14 (1) , 107-125
- https://doi.org/10.1145/111186.104659
Abstract
Goal-directed evaluation is a very expressive programming language paradigm that is supported in relatively few languages. It is characterized by evaluation of expressions in an attempt to meet some goal, with resumption of previous expressions on failure. This paradigm is found in SNOBL4 in its pattern-matching facilities, and in Icon as a general part of the language. This paper presents a denotational semantics of Icon and shows how Icon is in fact a combination of two distinct paradigms, goal-directed evaluation and functional application. The two paradigms are not supported separately in different contexts, but integrated fully into a single evaluation mechanism.Keywords
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