Agent syntax - Revision history

Peter gummer: /* Agent syntax */

2007-06-24T19:23:39Z

‎Agent syntax

Juliant at 18:43, 24 June 2007

2007-06-24T18:43:49Z

Seilerm: initial copy from internal wiki

2007-06-23T01:56:17Z

initial copy from internal wiki

New page

[[Category:ECMA]]
==Agent syntax==

Idea: Use the '''like''' keyword followed by an agent signature definition to define agent types.

The good thing is that in Eiffel the "like" mechanism is already in place and well understood. In order to define an agent type something like
<e>
an_agent: like agent (a_x, a_y: INTEGER): BOOLEAN
</e>
would be very handy. Note that it is very similar to the definition of an inline agent. Of course the argument names could be omitted. But by allowing it we can even provide a named tuple as the argument signature for the call feature.
<e>
an_agent: like agent (INTEGER; INTEGER): BOOLEAN
</e>

The reason to introduce a syntax like this is to let the compiler handle the correct type of the agent. Depending if the type system is enhanced on a per-declaration syntax - like the [[restrict types]] or the [[usage-site variance]] propose - then the definition of an agent can be very cumbersome. By giving the programmer a shorthand he does not need to specify the exact agent type himself.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:23, 24 June 2007
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−	The reason to introduce a syntax like this is to let the compiler handle the correct type of the agent. Depending if the type system is enhanced on a per-declaration syntax - like the [[restrict types]] or the [[usage-site variance]] ~~propose~~ - then the definition of an agent can be very cumbersome. By giving the programmer a shorthand he does not need to specify the exact agent type himself.	+	The reason to introduce a syntax like this is to let the compiler handle the correct type of the agent. Depending if the type system is enhanced on a per-declaration syntax - like the [[restrict types]] or the [[usage-site variance]] proposals - then the definition of an agent can be very cumbersome. By giving the programmer a shorthand he does not need to specify the exact agent type himself.

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		+	{{Research}}
	==Agent syntax==		==Agent syntax==