> Function application uses conventional mathematical notation, e.g. f(a,b) instead of (f a b) as in Haskell. Thank you for that.
The lack of parentheses for function arguments in Haskell make currying -- one of its key idioms -- very ergonomic.
PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
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Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#22> Function application uses conventional mathematical notation, e.g. f(a,b) instead of (f a b) as in Haskell. Thank you for that.
I wonder if it were possible to create a language with the power of Haskell, but with a better, more mathematical-like syntax?
It seems like it is a trade-off.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if it were possible to create a language with the power of Haskell, but with a better, more mathematical-like syntax?
You may want to look into Wolfram Mathematica. It has the syntax f[x,y] and a super extensive standard library, being otherwise very LISPy.
Wolfram has a wild standard library but as a language it is less than elegant.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is it?
Similar to 'let' (or 'letrec' in lisps), but written after the block it applies to. For example: average xs = total / count where total = sum xs count = length xs
Right. Bindings instead of (procedural) assignments. Perhaps: valof() where()
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#25Awesome to hear of a new language from Bill Wadge but I’m a bit disappointed. Bill Wadge is of Lucid fame, one of the first dataflow languages. I was hoping for dataflow Python, not functional Python. Although I notice an appearance of the fby (followed by) operator so maybe there is some dataflowyness in here. Will definitely pay close attention to this.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#26I wonder if the niche of functional language with a lightweight syntax is already being served by F#?
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#27Interesting. I'm not aware of any other lazy dynamic languages. I would assume it is difficult to optimise such a combination.
Here's a historical one. 1976. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SASL_(programming_language)
Indeed, these languages are descendants of ISWIM by Peter Landin.
ISWIM also inspired Lucid, so I guess PyFL would be a nephew of SASL in that case.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#28> Function application uses conventional mathematical notation, e.g. f(a,b) instead of (f a b) as in Haskell. Thank you for that.
Haskell is more versatile: f(a, b) is a function applied to a single tuple, f a b is a function applied to two arguments. I do not understand the "instead of" in the cited part and it makes me somewhat skeptical (so does the "Py" in the name).
In Haskell, all functions take a single argument.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#29> Function application uses conventional mathematical notation, e.g. f(a,b) instead of (f a b) as in Haskell. Thank you for that.
Haskell is more versatile: f(a, b) is a function applied to a single tuple, f a b is a function applied to two arguments. I do not understand the "instead of" in the cited part and it makes me somewhat skeptical (so does the "Py" in the name).
In python, f(a, b) is a function applied to two arguments and f((a, b)) is a function applied to a single tuple.
Re: PyFL – new functional programming language from Bill Wadge
#30Is PyFL pronounced 'piffle'?
I humbly suggest 'pie-full' because mmmmmmm.