[m-dev.] State variable syntax - last call for opinions

[Peter Schachte]

On Thu, Jan 31, 2002 at 12:44:43PM +1100, Ralph Becket wrote:
> Peter Schachte, Thursday, 31 January 2002:
> > (Using my notation above) is referring to !X before the first !:X an
> > error?  Again, I think it should be.
> 
> Not if !.X appears in the head of the clause.

Ok.

> > For a clause without !:X (or !!X) in the head, if the last atom
> > mentioning X has !:X in it, does this give a singleton warning?  I
> > believe it should, since your binding a variable not used elsewhere in
> > the clause.
> 
> There's no connection between modes and !.X and !:X - it would just be a
> convention of interpretation that !.X denotes an input and !:X an
> output.

That's good, but not what I was talking about.  If I write (using
Fergus's latest syntax proposal):

	foo :-
		!:X = 0,
		... stuff ...
		!:X = !:X + 1.

that might translate to something like:

	foo :-
		X1 = 0,
		... stuff ...
		X5 = X4 + 1.

The Mercury compiler would issue a singleton variable warning for the
latter clause because X5 only appears once.  I think it should issue a
similar warning for the former clause, too.

> > Is it an error to have multiple !:X in the same atom?  I think it
> > probably should be.  You could give it a sensible meaning, but I think
> > it would be too confusing to use.
> 
> I'd rather stick with a simple, general transformation and let the
> programmer learn to avoid baroque coding styles the hard way.

But what does it mean?  For example, how would you translate

	!:X = 0,
	!:X = !:X + 1,
	foo(!.X),

or

	!:X = 0,
	foo(!X, !X).
	foo(!.X),

-- 
Peter Schachte              The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in
schachte at cs.mu.OZ.AU        insidious encroachment by men of zeal,
www.cs.mu.oz.au/~schachte/  well-meaning but without understanding.
Phone: +61 3 8344 9166          -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis 
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