Re: [stack] Properties of Concatenative langauges and Forth

Christopher Diggins scripsit:

> As a syntactic phrase in the Joy language, the symbol "5" has one
> meaning: it is a function that takes a stack as input and returns a
> copy of the input stack, with a value "5" on top. Dually we can
> explain it is an instruction that pushes a value "5" on a shared
> stack. In either case the value "5" on a stack is distinct from the
> instruction "5".

True, but one can be transformed into the other freely, since the 
currently executing Joy program is just another list object and can be
manipulated as such.

-- 
John Cowan    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan   <[email protected]>
    "Any legal document draws most of its meaning from context.  A telegram
    that says 'SELL HUNDRED THOUSAND SHARES IBM SHORT' (only 190 bits in
    5-bit Baudot code plus appropriate headers) is as good a legal document
    as any, even sans digital signature." --me