Growing a Language (1999) [6 citations — 0 self]
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author = {Guy L. Steele Jr.},
title = {Growing a Language},
year = {1999}
}
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Abstract:
is not the first till it comes to nought; then the first count is the sum. 4 2 5 0 Four plus two is the same as five plus one, which is the same as six plus nought, which is six. We shall take the word many to mean "more than two in number." Think of a machine that can keep track of two numbers, and count each one up or down, and test if a number be nought and by such a test choose to do this or that. The list of things that it can do and of choices that it can make must be of a known size that is some number. Here you can see the two numbers and a list. The machine starts its work with the first row of the list. Each row in the list has a state name; the word "up" or "down"; and which number to count up or count down. For "up," we have the name of the next state to go to (and the machine counts the number up by one); for "down," the machine first tests the number, and so we have the name of the new state to go to if the number be nought and the name of the new stat
