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From: lgm@polaris.ih.att.com (Lawrence G. Mayka)
Subject: Re: Prefix vs. Infix?
In-Reply-To: sef@CS.CMU.EDU's message of 13 Oct 1994 19:01:14 GMT
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References: <37jo4v$7lm@hobbes.cc.uga.edu> <37k05q$531@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 13:05:58 GMT
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In article <37k05q$531@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> sef@CS.CMU.EDU (Scott Fahlman) writes:

   In article <37jo4v$7lm@hobbes.cc.uga.edu> stone@phoenix.cs.uga.edu (stone) writes:

      Other than the obvious, what's the difference?  Is there any reason I
      should use one vs. the other?  (Does prefix compile faster, etc?)

   Infix can be a terrible rat's nest, but we spend years teaching school
   children to deal with it, and the vast majority of mainstream
   programming languges use infix syntax.  Any langauge that does not use
   infix syntax faces major difficulties in the marketplace, or at least
   the "mainstream" portion of it.

I would also point out that "infix" is a serious misnomer.  Most
conventional programming languages do not use a uniform infix syntax,
but rather an irregular, inconsistent syntax, according to which
certain operators (e.g., + and *) are infix, others (e.g., function
calls and most definition and control constructs) are prefix, still
others are postfix (++ and --, sometimes!), ad nauseam.  Dylan has
chosen to follow this same syntactic route, a decision whose wisdom
remains to be determined.

I believe Apple uses the term "algebraic," which at least has the
honesty of admitting mere historical precedent rather than pretending
to any technical merit.
--
        Lawrence G. Mayka
        AT&T Bell Laboratories
        lgm@ieain.att.com

Standard disclaimer.
