[mercury-users] higher order syntax

[Peter Schachte]

On Fri, Feb 11, 2000 at 03:12:36PM +1100, Fergus Henderson wrote:
> On 10-Feb-2000, Ralph Becket <rbeck at microsoft.com> wrote:
> > The mercury syntax allows us to write `P(...)' and
> > `F(...)' in place of `call(P, ...)' and `apply(F, ...)'
> > respectively, provided P/F are *variables*
> > bound to predicate/function values.
...
> > Similarly, if F has type `func(T1) = (func(T2) = T3)'
> > then I have to write `apply(F(X), Y)'.
> 
> The main difficulty with that would be with binary prefix
> operators.  If `op' is a binary prefix operator, how should
> 
> 	op (X)(Y)
> 
> be parsed?  Currently it gets parsed as 'op'(X, Y).
> With your proposal, I guess the (X)(Y) would be parsed
> as ''(X, Y), and so the example above would be a syntax error,
> since it uses a binary prefix operator with only one operand.

Can't you fix that by making binary prefix ops expect one argument
which must be a ''/2 term?  But how would p(W,X)(Y,Z) be parsed?
Maybe ''(p(W,X),Y,Z) ?

Basically, I like this idea (I've thought it would be useful, too).
But I'm concerned about the ambiguity problems between a nilary
function returning a function or predicate and a first-order function
or predicate.  For example:

	:- pred p(int).
	:- func p = pred(int).

now what does the goal p(3) mean?  Do you apply the predicate returned
by the p/0 function to 3, or do you invoke the predicate p/1?  I guess
this is just the usual ambiguous overloading problem and can be
handled the same way, but somehow it seems more confusing.
 

-- 
Peter Schachte                     Any man who is under 30, and is not a
mailto:schachte at cs.mu.OZ.AU        liberal, has not heart; and any man who
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~schachte/  is over 30, and is not a conservative,
PGP: finger schachte at 128.250.37.3  has no brains. -- Winston Churchill 
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