TEACH POPSUMMARY Aaron Sloman, February 1982
=== PROGRAMMING IN POP11 : BRIEF SUMMARY =============================
This is a summary of the most basic facilities in POP11.
On a first reading, you may prefer to skip the next section, on POP11
constructs.
--- POP11 CONSTRUCTS -------------------------------------------------
A POP11 program is a piece of text, which may be composed of combinations of
Declarations (e.g. variable declarations, procedure definitions).
Imperatives (e.g. assignments ( X + Y -> X), procedure calls).
Expressions (e.g. 3, 99 + X, HD(LIST), HD(TL(LIST)))
Roughly, declarations say how something is to be used, but don't ask the
computer to do anything yet; while imperatives say do something which
will produce a change of some kind in the machine or on the terminal;
and an expression is a sort of name for an entity which is to be
computed in a manner specified by the expression. So the declaration
vars fred, x, y;
says that FRED, X and Y are to be used as names of variables. The
imperative
add([fido isa dog]);
tells POP11 to put a new list into the DATABASE, whereas the expression
hd([fido isa dog])
is a name, or referring expression, denoting the first element of the
list, namely the word "FIDO". A typical place where you'd use an
expression is on the left hand side of an assignment, e.g.
hd([fido isa dog]) -> w;
or in a sequence of expressions representing the input to a procedure,
e.g.
last(database) matches hd(patternlist)
which has two expressions denoting inputs to the procedure MATCHES. The
whole thing can be used to denote the result of MATCHES, i.e. TRUE or
FALSE, and is therefore also an expression.
Imperatives and declarations are separated by semi-colons ';' (or the
print-arrow '=>' or '==>', whereas expressions (e.g. inputs to a
procedure) are separated by commas ','. An imperative does not need a
semi colon immediately before a closing bracket, such as ')',
'ENDDEFINE', 'ENDIF'. (Some people would call declarations a type of
imperative.)
Sometimes you cannot tell from its form whether something is an
expression or an imperative. That depends on context. Thus, a
conditional (see below) may be an imperative, as in:
if x > y then x -> max else y -> max endif;
which specifies which of two things to DO, whereas in
if x > y then x else y endif -> max;
the whole thing is an imperative, whereas the bit between IF and ENDIF
is an expression which denotes either the value or X or the value of Y,
depending on which is greater. The conditional expression (the bit
between IF and ENDIF) says which of two things is to be DENOTED, rather
than which of two things is to be DONE.
Looping constructs (e.g. using UNTIL, WHILE, FOR, REPEAT, FOREACH,
FOREVERY, - see below) are normally imperatives but can also sometimes
be used as expressions, like conditionals.
There are several kinds of 'primitive' expressions in POP11, e.g.
Identifiers (X, MATCH, LIST, etc - used as names of something else)
Quoted words ("X", "MATCH", "LIST" - used to refer to themselves)
Identifiers and quoted words are entered in a dictionary to
prevent the same one being created twice.
Strings of characters ('X', 'A LONGER STRING', '19827364&!#&%$$')
These are partly like words, but are not in the dictionary, so
two different strings may have the same characters.
Numbers (integers: 3, 999, reals: 3.1415926, 3.0,
binary numbers: 2:10111001, octal numbers: 8:77315)
An important type of expression in POP11 which is not primitive is a
LIST expression, which may contain expressions of other sorts, e.g.
[ a list of five words ]
[two words [a list] 'a string' 99 %x + y%]
(for more on list expression see TEACH * LISTSUMMARY).
Another type, used when it is important to save space, is the VECTOR,
which is a one-dimensional array of objects, e.g.
{a vector with five words and 99 [a list] 'a string'}
Notice that 'curly' brackets are used for vectors, square brckets for
lists.
This is not a complete list of types of expressions, nor is it a
complete list of types of objects which POP11 programs can refer to. The
rest of this document elaborates on these ideas, indicating the main
types of declarations, imperatives and expressions in POP11.
--- ARITHMETIC -------------------------------------------------------
The following operations are available
+ add two numbers
- subtract two numbers, or negate one number.
* multiply two numbers
** exponentiation: e.g. A ** 3 means A*A*A i.e. A cubed.
/ divide first number by second
// divide first number by second, produce
remainder and quotient.
> test two numbers: TRUE if first greater than second.
< test two numbers: TRUE if first less than second.
>= test two numbers: TRUE if first greater than or
equal to second.
=< test two numbers: TRUE if first less than or
equal to second.
X div Y returns the number of times Y goes into X. Both integers.
X rem Y returns the remainder on dividing X by Y.
For more information see HELP * MATH.
Most of the above are 'binary' operations, and can be used to form an
expression by being combined with two expressions representing numbers,
e.g.
x + y
99 > (x + y)
(x + y) * (99 - z/3)
--- EQUALITY TESTING -------------------------------------------------
== test any two objects. TRUE if they are identical.
= test any two objects. TRUE if they are identical,
OR if they are of the same type with the same elements.
E.g.
[a b c] == [a b c] is false, since they are two lists
[a b c] = [a b c] is true.
'a string' == 'a string' is false, but
'a string' = 'a string' is true
Since words are standardised in the dictionary, both the following are
TRUE:
"cat" == "cat" and "cat" = "cat"
Writing two expressions on either side of an equality operation produces
a new expression, which denotes a truth-value, TRUE or FALSE.
(For more information on = se HELP * CLASSES).
The operation MATCHES provides more sophisticated facilities for
matching lists against a partially specified pattern. It is used by the
database procedures, ADD REMOVE PRESENT LOOKUP FLUSH and FOREACH. See
TEACH * POPNOTES for details.
--- THE STACK --------------------------------------------------------
Procedures in POP-11 get their arguments from the user stack, and leave
their results on the stack. Also the assignment arrow "->" (see below)
takes an item off the stack. For more on the stack see TEACH * STACK.
--- PRINT-ARROW, FOR PRINTING OUT RESULTS ----------------------------
=> (ordinary print arrow) ==> (pretty-print arrow)
Examples:
33 + 66 =>
;;; print sum of 33 and 66. Output is preceded by two asterisks.
** 99
234 + 22 > 33 * 66 => ;;; is 234 + 22 bigger than 33 times 66?
** <false>
x + 5 < y => ;;; is the sum of x and 5 less than y?
;;; x and y should have numbers as values.
99 + 5 = 95 + 9 => ;;; is 99 + 5 equal to 95 + 9?
** <true>
x = y => ;;; does x have the same value as y?
x => ;;; print out the value of x.
10 // 3 => ;;; prints out remainder and quotient
** 1 3
[a [nested list of several words] and [another nested list
of several words] too long to print easily] =>
When lists are deeply nested the printout from => can be a little
confusing, so it is then best to use ==> instead. You can in fact
always use '==>'.
Note that => or ==> can be used to terminate an imperative without a [
semi-colon.
--- DECLARING VARIABLES ----------------------------------------------
Type VARS then variables, separated by commas, then semi-colon. E.g.
vars list1 list2 x y z; ;;; this declares five variables.
Variables may be declared locally, in a procedure, or globally.
Variables may be used without being declared. This is equivalent to
declaring them globally, except that POP11 prints out a warning message.
(More complex declarations are available for identifiers to be used as
macro names or infix operators.)
-- ASSIGNMENTS. (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT IN POP11) -----------------------
-> assign to, or "goes to"
E.g. - to give the variable X the value 33 do:
33 -> x;
to give the variable Y twice the value of X do:
x + x -> y;
or
(x + x) -> y;
to assign a list of numbers to LIST1 do something like
[ 1 2 3 4 5 ] -> list1;
To assign a list of words to LIST2
[cat dog mouse elephant] -> list2;
To assign a list like LIST1 but in reverse order to X, do:
rev(list1) ->x;
x =>
** [5 4 3 2 1]
Note: "->" can also be used to define "output locals" in procedures.
See TEACH * STACK for more on assignment.
-- THE MATCHER ARROW "-->" ---------------------------------------------
This can be used to check that a list has a certain format:
list --> [junction == ];
checks that LIST starts with "JUNCTION". If not, an error occurs. It can
also be used to decompose a list.
list --> [?first ?second ??rest];
causes an error if LIST has fewer than two elements, otherwise gives
FIRST the first element, as its value, SECOND the second element, and
REST a list containing all the remainder.
-- DEFINING PROCEDURES ------------------------------------------------
Format for a procedure definition:
define
then <name of procedure>
then <formal parameters in parentheses, separated by commas>
then semi-colon
then action to be performed
(may include conditionals, loops, etc.)
then
enddefine;
Example - a procedure, named DOUBLESUM which takes two numbers, and
produces a new number got by doubling the sum of the two.
define doublesum (num1, num2);
2 * (num1 + num2)
enddefine;
Another example - a procedure named SQUARE which will take a number, called
SIDE in the procedure, and will draw a square of the appropriate size:
define square (side);
repeat 4 times
draw(side);
turn(90);
endrepeat;
enddefine;
This assumes that the procedures DRAW and TURN have been defined
previously. (They are provided the in 'turtle' library package.
NOTE: see also 'output locals' below
For more details see HELP * DEFINE, and REF * SYNTAX.
-- EXECUTING (CALLING, RUNNING, APPLYING) A PREVIOUSLY DEFINED PROCEDURE --
square(5);
I.e.: execute the procedure square with 5 as argument. i.e. side gets
the value 5.
doublesum(3,99) =>
I.e.: execute the procedure doublesum, with 3 and 99 as arguments. I.e
NUM1 gets the value 3 and NUM2 the value 99. The result is printed out
by =>
doublesum(4,60) -> x;
i.e. as before, but assign the result to x.
-- OUTPUT LOCALS OF A PROCEDURE ---------------------------------------------
If a procedure is to return one or more results, it can be given OUTPUT
LOCALS.
For example, here is a procedure which takes a list of numbers and
produces the sum of all the numbers, and their average, i.e. two
results. The two results are left on the stack when the procedure exits.
define stats(numlist) -> sum -> average;
vars num;
length(numlist) -> num;
0 -> sum;
until numlist == [] do
hd(numlist) + sum -> sum;
tl(numlist) -> numlist
enduntil;
sum/num -> average
enddefine;
vars s a;
stats([ 1 3 5 9 ]) -> s -> a;
s =>
** 18
a =>
** 4.5
Output locals can be assigned to anywhere in the procedure. When the
procedure finishes, the values of the output locals are left on the
stack. In the example they are then taken off the stack, after the
procedure STATS has finished, and assigned to A and to S.
-- LOOPS: INSTRUCTIONS TO DO SOMETHING REPEATEDLY ----------------
Several looping constructs are provided.
Where the word DO is used, the word THEN would suffice. The two words are
treated the same by the POP-11 system; use which ever looks prettier!
until <condition> do <action> enduntil;
This means, check if the <condition> is true, and if not keep on
repeating the <action> until it becomes true. The condition is tested
again each time after <action> is done. For example, to print out all
the numbers from 3 to 99 do:
vars num;
3 -> num;
until num > 99 do
num =>
num + 1 -> num;
enduntil;
To print out the words "THE" "CAT" "SAT" "ON" "THE" "MAT", you could
make a list of the words, then keep printing out elements of the list
and chopping one off until the list is [], thus:
vars list;
[the cat sat on the mat ] -> list;
until list = [] do
list(1) => ;;; print first element
tl(list) -> list;
enduntil;
----------------------------------------------------------------
repeat <number> times <action> endrepeat;
After the word REPEAT you can have a number, e.g. 4, or a variable whose
value is anumber, e.g. REPEAT N TIMES... or a more complex expression
which calculates a number, e.g. REPEAT 66+53 TIMES....
The <action> will be done the specified number of times.
Example: to print out 10 blank lines, do
repeat 10 times pr(newline) endrepeat;
See also the definition of procedure SQUARE, above.
For indefinite iteration do
repeat forever <action> endrepeat;
(interrupt with CTRL-C)
(See HELP * LOOPS for more on loops and interrupting them)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
while <condition> do <action> endwhile;
This means, keep on doing the <action> over and over again, so long as
the condition remains TRUE. E.g. to print out positive integers from 66
in descending order do
vars num;
66 -> num;
while num > 0 do
pr(num);
num - 1 -> num;
endwhile;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
for <initiate> step <step> till <condition> do
<action>
endfor;
This is equivalent to:
<initiate>;
until <condition> do <action>; <step> enduntil;
In other words, do the initialisation, then, until the condition
evaluates to TRUE, repeatedly do the action followed by the step.
For example, to print out all the numbers from LO to HI, separated by
spaces:
for lo -> x step x + 1 -> x till x > hi do
pr(x);
pr(space)
endfor;
N.B. The 'step' is not done until after the 'action'.
To apply the procedure FOO to every element of the list [A B C D];
for [a b c d] -> l step tl(l) -> l till l = [] do
foo(l(1))
endfor;
----------------------------------------------------------------
for x in list do <action> endfor;
X will take on as its value the first element of LIST, then the second
element, then the third, etc. Each time the <action> may be performed on
X.
----------------------------------------------------------------
for l on list do <action> endfor;
Here, the first time the <action> is done L will refer to the whole
LIST. The second time it will refer to the TAIL of the list (i.e. a list
of all but the first element). The next time a still shorter list, and
so on. E.g.
for l on [a b c] do
l =>
endfor;
** [a b c]
** [b c]
** [c]
for x from <number> by <number> to <number> do
<action>
endfor;
e.g. to print out numbers from 2 to 30 going up in steps of 7
for x from 2 by 7 to 30 do x => endfor;
-- ITERATION OVER THE DATABASE --------------------------------------
foreach <pattern> do <action> endforeach;
For example, to print out every item in the database representing
something blue:
vars x;
foreach [??x is blue] do
x ==>
endforeach;
Inside the <action> the variable IT is available to represent the
database item which has matched the pattern. E.g. to make a list of all
the blocks:
[% foreach [??x isa block] do
it
endforeach
%] -> blocks;
Each time round the value of IT is left on the stack and the [%...%]
brackets make a list of all of them.
FOREACH can be followed by IN to specify a list other than DATABASE to search
in, i.e.
foreach <pattern> in <list> do <action> endforeach;
FOREVERY can be used for multiple patterns, e.g.
forevery [[?x isa block] [colour ?x ?col]] do
[^x is a ^col block] =>
endforevery
-- CONDITIONALS. THESE CAN HAVE SEVERAL FORMS ------------------
All the <conditions> in what follows should be expressions which evaluate to
TRUE or FALSE.
(1) IF <condition> THEN <action> ENDIF;
(2) IF <condition> THEN <action1> ELSE <action2> ENDIF;
if the <condition> is true, then <action1> will be executed,
otherwise <action2> will be executed.
(3) IF <condition1> THEN <action1>
ELSEIF <condition2> THEN <action2>
ELSEIF <condition3> THEN <action3>
ELSEUNLESS <condition4> THEN <action4>
.............
.............
ELSE <default action>
ENDIF;
This says try <condition1> then <condition2> etc in turn until an ELSEIF
condition is found which is TRUE, or an ELSEUNLESS condition is found
which is FALSE. If either is found, execute the corresponding <action>.
If none of the conditions comes out TRUE then do the thing following
ELSE, i.e. <default action>.
Note that in an imperative you don't have to have the ELSE <default
action> bit. Though you must have it in an expression, for an expression
must denote something whatever the conditions. You can include as many
ELSEIF clauses as you like.
(4) UNLESS <condition> THEN <action> ENDUNLESS;
this is equivalent to:
IF NOT(<condition>) THEN <action> ENDIF;
UNLESS can also have ELSEUNLESS and ELSEIF and ELSE clauses.
Note: the words NOT, AND and OR are available for use in formulating complex
conditions. E.g.
if <condition1> or (<condition2> and not(<condition3>))
-- EXAMPLES ------------------------------------------------------------
To test whether the value of X is bigger than the value of Y, and print
out the bigger value do:
if x > y then
x =>
else
y =>
endif;
Compare:
if x > y then
x =>
elseif y > x then
y =>
else
"same" =>
endif;
if 2 < x and x < 6 then
true
else
false
endif =>
Note that the last example is exactly equivalent to:
2 < x and x < 6 =>
If LIST1 and LIST2 are two lists and you want to print out the one which
is shorter you could do:
if length(list1) < length(list2) then
list1
else
list2
endif =>
If N and M are two numbers, and you wish to assign the bigger one to the
variable MAX then do:
if m > n then
m
else
n
endif -> max;
--- VECTORS ----------------------------------------------------------
This is a data structure made of some number of elements, stored
consecutively in the memory of the computer, unlike lists, which are
chains of items, where links in the chain may be located in very
different places. To create a vector you can use the brackets { .... }
e.g.
{3 cat [a list] 99 }
is a vector containing two numbers, a word and a list. If you need a
vector to contain the values of some variables, or the result of some
computation, use {% .... %} e.g.
{% "cat", hd(list), x+y, list %}
Warning, in many ways vectors are like lists (though they take up less
space). They are not the same as lists however. HD and TL cannot be
applied to them. "^", "^^" and MATCHES can be used with VECTORS as well
as with LISTS. However "?" and "??" do not work for vectors with
MATCHES. (See HELP * MATCHES)
To access an element of a vector, use a numerical index. E.G.
{a cat} -> x;
x(2) =>
** cat
For efficiency the procedure SUBSCRV is also available. It takes a
number and a vector and returns (or updates) the corresponding element
of the vector.
Vectors can be concatenated like lists using <> .
For more details see REF * VECTORS. Users can define their own classes
of vectors. See HELP * VECTORCLASS.
-- STRINGS (Character vectors) -----------------------------------------
A string is a special kind of vector containing character codes, stored
compactly.
String constants may be typed in between string quote marks, e.g.
'A string with letters and spaces' -> string;
If the string is to extend over several lines, then a backslash
character, "\" must appear at the end of each line of the string, e.g.:
'This is the first line\
and this is the second' -> string;
Alternatively, you can insert a newline character into the string thus:
'This is the first line \nand this is the second' -> string;
I.e. "\n" inserts a newline. Similarly "\'" inserts a string quote,
"\b", inserts a back-space character, "\t" inserts a tab.
Strings can be concatenated using the infix operation ><, e.g.
string1 >< string2 -> string3;
will assign to STRING3 a string formed by joining the strings referred
to by STRING1 and STRING2. The arguments of >< don't have to be strings.
They can also be words or numbers, but the result will always be a
string. So, if the value of X is an integer, to create a string made of
the corresponding characters, concatenate it with the empty string thus:
x >< '' -> numstring;
Normally strings are printed out without their quote marks.
The elements of a string are integers representing character codes. They
can be accessed by numerical indexing, e.g.
'cat' -> x;
x(2) =>
** 97
(assuming its a lower case 'a').
The procedure SUBSCRS, which takes a number and a string, is available
for more efficient accessing and updating of string elements.
See HELP * STRINGS for more details.
-- SWITCH STATEMENTS ---------------------------------------------------
POP11 provides a command GO_ON which can be used thus
go_on <numerical expression> to <label1> <label2> <label3> ...<labeln>;
The expression must evaluate to a number in the range 1 to N, if N is
the number of labels. The labels must be repeated elsewhere in the
procedure, followed by colons. For instance, the following will
translate numerals:
define trans(num);
go_on num to la lb lc ld;
la: "one" ; return;
lb: "two" ; return;
lc: "three" ; return;
ld: "toobig";
enddefine;
trans(2) =>
** two
A GO_ON instruction may end with ELSE <default label> ; See HELP *
GO_ON.
-- TRACING -------------------------------------------------------------
To trace some procedures, type TRACE, followed by the names of the
procedures. example:
trace square doublesum;
will cause the two procedures to be traced whenever they are executed.
UNTRACE is used to undo tracing, e.g.
untrace square doublesum;
--- OPERATING SYSTEM COMMANDS ----------------------------------------
Commands can be given to the operating system by preceding them with the
operating system prompt, for example on a VMS system DCL commands can be
given by typing the dollar as the first symbol on the line, e.g.
$ SHOW TIME
or
$ DIR *.P
-- FURTHER INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------------
HELP * HELPFILES will give information about the main information files
in the *LIBRARY.
TEACH * LISTSUMMARY gives more information on LISTS.
See also HELP * LISTS.
TEACH * POPNOTES summarises information on the MATCHER and DATABASE. See
also TEACH * MATCHES and *DATABASE.
Note: POP11 is a lower-case language. Identifiers may use upper case to
prevent clashes. So
vars cat, Cat;
declares two different variables.