Muf Reference


(1)

Yes, really, any value: you may use a compiled function for a property name and a job instance for a property value, for example.

(2)

By not routinely passing large numbers of strings through message streams, we avoid both the inefficiency of allocating and then garbage-collecting massive numbers of strings, and also the thorny issue of who should own -- and be quota-charged for -- these strings.

(3)

"To sophisticate" originally meant to dilute wine (say) with other fluids, so in the original sense, "unsophisticated" meant "undiluted". Muq primitives are straight C code, undiluted by any hint of interpretation, and in this sense may be fairly thought of as unsophisticated.

(4)

"Jesus" is Greek translation, "Joshua" the original.

(5)

The inventor of Forth insists that no function should be longer than two lines!

(6)

The name 'thunk' comes from the implementation of call-by-name semantics in Algol68, where the name purportedly derived from the notion that the function didn't have to think about the value because the compiler had already thunk about it...

(7)

The 'promise' nomenclature derives from Scheme.

(8)

Many traditional Lisp function names "just happen" to fit in six characters, possibly because the PDP-10, for years the standard Lisp machine, could fit six letters in each 36-bit word using SIXBIT format.

(9)

W R Stevens in Unix Network Programming p304 notes that "The system doesn't automatically assign a port greater than 5000. It leaves these ports for user-developed, nonpriveleged servers." Solaris appears to automatically assign all ports, alas.

(10)

CommonLisp avoids this notation for the excellent reason that it wishes to reserve the '?' character to users for Lisp reader macros. Muq MUF not having reader macros, the reason does not apply, and in any event, the Muq MUF design emphasizes convenience for novices more highly than maximum power for professionals.

(11)

Scheme actually uses a "ci-" prefix.



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