Title :
Implementation of an FP-Shell
Author :
Kamath, Yogeesh H. ; Matthews, Manton M.
Author_Institution :
AT&T Bell Laboratories
fDate :
5/1/1987 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
One of the best features of the UNIX™ Shell is that it provides a framework which can be used to build complex programs by interconnecting existing simple programs. However, it is limited to linear combinations of programs, and building of more complex programs must be accomplished by executing sequences of commands. This paper introduces Backus´ FP (Functional Programming) as an alternative command language for UNIX. In FP, programs are true functions and another distinctive feature of FP languages is that they contain functional forms, which are constructs for combining programs to build new programs. Also, the functional style of programming provides a natural way of exploiting parallel machine architecture.
Keywords :
Command language; UNIX; functional language; functional programming environment; shells; Buildings; Central Processing Unit; Command languages; Computer architecture; Computer science; Concurrent computing; Functional programming; LAN interconnection; Parallel machines; Parallel programming; Command language; UNIX; functional language; functional programming environment; shells;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TSE.1987.233198