Designing and implementing an array theory incorporating abstract datatypes

Abstract

We describe a variant of More's array theory which has an extra function we call promotion. This function effects an abstract datatype facility very similar to Smalltalk classes. We discuss how the addition of promotion solves some programming language design issues not addressed by standard array theory as well as extending the expressive power of array theory. Finally we discuss how the inclusion of classes simplifies the implementation of not only array theory but also present day APL interpreters as well.

Additional details