CHAPTER.4: PROCEDURES IN POP-11

This chapter reviews some of the features of procedures in Pop-11, including several that are not found in other languages, and also provides more information on how to define procedures.

• Procedures as "first class objects"
• Other languages able to manipulate procedures
• Example: creating new procedures from old
• Using "partial application" to create a closure
• Using both partial application and procedure composition
• Exercises on procedure creation and manipulation
• Using non-procedures (e.g. lists, vectors) as procedures
• Arrays are procedures in Pop-11
• Properties as procedures
• Exercise using properties for the rooms database
• DEFINING PROCEDURES IN POP-11
• Using "define <name> = ... enddefine"
• Specifying the syntactic type of a procedure identifier
• Executing (calling, running, applying) a procedure
• Procedures with more than one output local
• Output locals and the stack
• Precedence and parentheses
• Defining new infix procedures
• Different types of procedures: normal, infix, macros, syntax
• Some important constructs used in defining procedures
• Loops: instructions to do something repeatedly
• Using conditionals to jump out of, or re-start a loop.
• Other syntactic constructs
• Tracing procedures
• Defining macros and syntax words to extend the language.