On 25.01.2024 21:06, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

Why not do what Algol-68 did, and specify a set of characters that could
be used to define new custom operators?

What do you mean by "specify a set of characters that could be used"?

In Algol(68) you can use punctuation characters, letters, or words.
Just declare the operator and its priority.

A few examples from some old test source code on my disk...

OP H = (INT a, b) INT : ( a+b );
PRIO H = 5;
OP ~ = (INT a, b) INT : ( a+b );
PRIO ~ = 5;
IF 2 H 3 = 5 THEN print (62) ELSE print (63) FI;
IF 2 ~ 3 = 5 THEN print (72) ELSE print (73) FI;

PRIO O = 9;
OP O = (INT a, b) INT : a * b;
print ((a O b + 1))

OP MAX = (INT a, INT b) INT : ( a > b | a | b );
PRIO MAX = 4;
print (5 MAX 7);


Janis

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