Re: Reference to "First-Class Data Type"

eric@tfs.COM (Eric Smith)
Sat, 22 Feb 92 14:06:53 PST

          From comp.compilers
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Newsgroups: comp.compilers
From: eric@tfs.COM (Eric Smith)
Keywords: types
Organization: TFS
References: 92-02-085 92-02-090
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 92 14:06:53 PST

>[I'd say that procedure pointers rather than procedures are first class
>PL/I objects, just like they are in C. In other languages with 1st class
>procedures, you can create procedures, not just pointers to them, at run
>time. -John]




So why not just put a C compiler in the C library? Call it with a
string of source code and have it return a function pointer. You
could also put a C interpreter in the library for those cases where
the function is expected to execute a lot faster than to compile.


Would that satisfy the definition of first class? It wouldn't require
any changes at all to the C language, just adding stuff to the library.
[Interesting thought, you're probably setting yourself up for theological
arguments. -John]
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