Re: [stack] Why is point-free form so interesting?

On 7/10/07, William Tanksley, Jr <[email protected]> wrote:
> John Carter <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Christopher Diggins wrote:
> > Is there a representation of a program where the mechanism of moving
> > parameters to values in expressions is...
> > * Explicit (ie. Can be reasoned about / transparent on inlining)
> > * Trivial (Adds almost nothing to the code / vanishes in
> > this representation)?
>
> Not in general. If the data transport mechanism is explicit, then the
> written data transport will vanish only when the data transport needs
> are simple in the given notation.
>
> Stack notation is NOT the simplest possible data transfer notation; it
> imposes a total ordering on data, when often a partial ordering is
> sufficient.

This is an interesting point. Specifying an ordering where non is
intended, I believe can be considered to be simpler than
differentiating between the two. Many programming languages don't even
bother allowing people to specify unordered data because it would
introduce new constructs, operations,  or representations into their
language, thus increasing complexity.

- Christopher