Yet another scripting language – parts 5, 6, and 7

This article is a continuation of the discussion of “yet another scripting language”, a scripting language that I am proposing to create. The ongoing presentation is broken up into sections, each section discussing some aspect of the proposed language.

The articles are not definitive specifications; rather, they are working documents exploring possibilities.

There are five prior threads in comp.lang.misc that are devoted to this projected language. The thread titles are:

Yet Another Scripting Language – Syntax thoughts
Yet another scripting language – arithmetic
Yet another scripting language – formalizing flow control
Yet another scripting language – Variables, function invocation, and some syntax
Yet Another Scripting Language – Reprise

http://richardhartersworld.com/cri/2001/newlang01.html http://richardhartersworld.com/cri/2001/newlang02.html http://richardhartersworld.com/cri/2003/newlang03.html

The current interim name for this language is San. Suggestions for a better name are solicited.

5.0 Miscellaneous updates

5.0.1 Indentation

All blocks must begin with the keyword “begin”. The content within the block must be indented. The block must be terminated with an “end” statement that, with the single exception of comment blocks, must also be indented.

Preferably (but not obligatorily) all statements within the block that are not part of an internal block should have the same indentation. However no statement shall be indented deeper than any begin statement with the block.

The indentation characters within a block may be either spaces or tabs but not a mixture.

The “end” statement need not have an argument; if it does the one and only argument may be the name of block type, the name of an entity being defined, or a label supplied in the corresponding “begin” statement. For example the statement

        begin loop ; label = foo

        end
        end loop
        end foo

        begin function foo  

        end
        end function
        end foo

5.0.2 Comments, comment function, and comment blocks

        begin #
                This is a comment.
                It is only a comment.
                If it were code it would
                Still be a comment.
        end #

5.0.3 Character string representations

(1) Single characters using ‘: A token consisting of two characters with the first character being a single quote is a literal representing the second character. Thus ‘x is a literal representing a string consisting of the character x.

(2) Strings using “: Tokens with a leading double quotation mark are literal strings (no trailing ” is needed.) Thus “foo is the string “foo”. If the string is not enclosed in braces {} or angle brackets <> the string is terminated by white space.

If it is so enclosed white space is part of the text. Thus {“foo bar} is the string “foo bar”.

(3) Strings using count format: Tokens beginning with a integer followed by the letter H (case insensitive) are strings consisting of specified number of characters after the ‘H’. Thus 3Hfoo is the string “foo”. All special characters including white space within the counted number of characters are treated literally. Thus the string 4H{” < is the four characters, {, “, space, and <.

(4) Text blocks: Text blocks are useful for text running over more than one line. The format is:

    begin text NAME
        BODY
        end

    begin text blatifu
        |Dear {addressee}
        |
        |   Please find enclosed a check for {amount} lire.
        |
        .Ralph 124c41+  {:-}
        end

5.0.4 Infix operators

        <lt x y>        <# Yields true if x is less than y>

        (x lt? y)       <# Also yields true if x is less than y> 

        begin switch x
                lt? y => action1 <# when x lt? y perform action1> 
                z gt? => action2 <# when z gt? x perform action2> 
                end switch

        x[] <- [1...n | gt? m]

5.0.5 Sequent operators

        [source | op ...]

        [1...100 | step 2 | lt? 10]

Logical operators act as filters; the step operator applies a comb function; arithmetic operators apply the operation to each element passed to them. Example:

        [1...5 | * 3 | + 1 ]

        [4, 7, 10, 13, 16]

5.0.6 Concatenation

        foo := "bagel
        bar := "dorf
then
        blatifu := foo ^ bar
        blatifu := <^ foo bar>

5.0.7 Three types of qualified names

The exclamation point (bang) is specialized. The second name is taken as a procedure that accepts the first name as an argument. The fields of the procedure that would be set as the result of the call are set in the argument instead. For example, suppose procedure mysort sorts the array of its argument and then sets its own array to be the sorted array. We could use the sort procedure as follows:

        sort data
        data[] <- sort[]
However we can do the same thing more compactly with
        data!sort
Bang separators can be concatenated.  Thus
        data!alpha!beta!gamma!delta
is equivalent to
        alpha data
        beta alpha
        gamma beta
        delta gamma
        data[] <- delta[]

5.0.8 Null function

        x := <>

6.0 Delimited executable code aggregates (routines)

What, then, is a routine?

A routine is a block of code that can be bound to an associated identifier, and that can accept control (can be invoked, activated, or equivalent). Routines include functions, procedures, coroutines, tasks, event handlers, data flow components, and goto acceptance blocks.

Routines can be distinguished between those that are activated with the call/return scheme (traditional functions and procedures) and those event activated (event handlers, exception handlers, data flow elements). Likewise they can be distinguished between those that can be resumed and those that cannot. Finally, we can distinguish between those with persistent data and those without (reentrent and non-reentrent.)

San recognizes four kinds of routines – functions, procedures, sequent (list) operators, and agents.

6.1 Functions and procedures

In practice the two forms are distinct; functions return values that can appear in expressions whereas procedures do not. An example of a function invocation is

        x := <cos theta>        <# San syntax>
        x  = cos(theta);        /* C syntax */
An example of a procedure invocation is
        sort data               <# San syntax >
        sort(data);             /* C syntax */

6.1.1 Handling of arguments in procedures and functions

        begin procedure foo
                arguments x, y
                init x = 3.14159
                init y = 180.
                ...
                end foo

        foo a b

        foo x=a, y=b

        foo y=b

6.1.2 Creation of procedures and functions

        begin proc factorial
                arguments n
                n le? 1 => return 1
                else    => return n * <factorial n - 1>
                end proc

6.2 Dataflow programming

Data flow elements that have outputs but no inputs are called sources; sources include external devices, external files, and generators such as random number generators.

Data flow elements that have inputs but no outputs are called sinks; sinks include external devices, e.g., printers, and files that are written to.

In San input ports are labelled $0, $1, etc, and output ports are labelled $out0, $out1, etc. The current value in an input port is referenced by the port name, e.g., $0. The content of remainder of a block is referenced by appending brackets, e.g., $0[].

Emitting the contents of an input port advances the input. The emit0 command sends data to $out0; emit1 sends data to $out1, etc. Likewise emitting the content of a morph clears the content.

In San streams can be blocked. The block separators, called marks, are not special elements in streams; they must be emitted and detected using separate commands distinct from the commands used to read and write streams.

6.3 Sequent operators

There are two input ports, $0 and $1, and one output port $out0. Inputs are presumed to be blocked. When invoked in a sequent $in0 comes from the piped input and $in1 comes from the argument list. $out0 is sent to the output pipe.

Here are examples of sequent operator programming. The first routine is an implementation of quick sort; the second routine is an implementation of merge sort.

    begin operator qsort
        pivot   :=  $0
        small[] := [$0[] | lt? pivot | qsort]
        big[]   := [$0[] | gt? pivot | qsort]
        same[]  := [$0[] | eq? pivot        ]
        emit0 [small[], same[], big[]]
        end qsort
    begin operator msort
        begin operator merge
            begin switch
                <empty?  $0> => emit $1[]
                <empty?  $1> => emit $0[]
                $0 lt? $1    => emit $0
                else         => emit $1
                end
            end merge
        cut $0[] $0.$nrow/2
        emit [[cut.head[] | msort]| merge [cut.tail[] | msort]]
        end msort

6.4 Agents

Agents have two types of code – initialization (setting of parameters) and response blocks (on codes). Response blocks are activated when a specific condition arises. Response block initiators have the form on-TYPE where TYPE is the type of event being handled. The types include:

     on-activation      executed then the agent is first
                        activated.
     on-$N-MODE         executed when there is input on
                        channel N.  MODE specified 
                        whether the channel is being read
                        in char, word, or word list mode.
     on-markN           executed when there is a blocking
                        mark received on channel N
     on-exception       executed when an exception is
                        raised within the agent.  An
                        on-exception block with arguments
                        handles exceptions names in the
                        argument list; a block without
                        arguments handles all exceptions.
     on-msg             executed for each received
                        message.

7.1 File Structure

Modules contain actual code. In addition to executable code within a module, there may also be import and export statements. Export statements make the exported items visible outside the module. Import statements specify required external resources. The names in inport statements are the names used locally within the module; connections between the module local names and the resources matched to the local name are specified in configurators.

The executive specifies which agent will be used as main program and which configurator will be used to specify the configuration. The program name can be a symbolic name; the selected configurator translates the symbolic name into an actual path, module, and named agent. Symbolic names can be used within configurators, and a configurator can reference another configurator.

7.2 Sample Program: A simple desk calculator

calc: + 2 3 5
10
calc: * 4 9
360
calc: / 15
24
calc: C
0
calc:
begin segment type = executive, label = exec
   program      = desk-calculator
   configurator = config
   end exec
begin segment type = configurator, label=config
   desk-calculator = <segpath . deskcalc desk-calculator>
   end config 
begin segment type = module, label = deskcalc
   init clear := 'C
   init ops[] := ['+, '-, '*, '/, clear]
   init wsp[] := [t , sp]
   begin agent desk-calculator
      msg to=print type=prompt
      $0 | getline | lex | validate | calc
      end
   begin agent getline
      on-in0-char begin switch
         $0 ceq? n   => mark0
         else         => emit0-char $0
         end
      end
   begin agent lex
      on-in0-char begin switch
         $0 in? wsp[] => emit0-word word
         else         => word := {word}{$0}
         end
      on-mark0 mark0
      end
   begin agent validate
      init okay  := true
      init new   := true
      on-in0-word begin switch $0
        ~ okay     => <>
        new        => begin
                        begin switch
                           $0 nin? ops[] => raise bad-command $0
                           else          => command := $0
                           end
                        new := false
                        end
        ~ number?        => raise not-a-number $0
        ne? 0            => append $0 to args
        command ceq? '/  => raise divide-by-zero 
        else             => append $0 to args
        end
      on-mark0 begin
         okay    => emit0-list command, args[]
         okay   := true
         new    := true
         end
      on-exception begin 
        begin switch $exception
          bad-command    => begin
            msg to=print type=string {S.{$arg} is not a command}
            end 
          divide-by-zero => begin
            msg to=print type=string {S.Can't divide by zero}
            end
          not-a-number   => begin
            msg to=print type=string {S.{$arg} is not a number}
            end
          end
        msg to=print type=prompt
        okay := false
        end
   begin agent calc
      init total 0
      on-in0 begin
         $0[] -> command, args[] 
         begin switch
            command ceq? clear => total := 0  
            else               => begin loop value from args[]
               total := total {command} value
               end
            end
         msg to=print type=string {total}
         end
      end
   begin agent print
      on-msg begin switch $type
         ceq? string => puts {$arg}{n}
         ceq? prompt => puts {"calc: }
         end
      end
   end deskcalc