Abstract

. We describe a process extension to a lazy functional programming system, intended for applications with graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In the extended language, dynamically-created processes communicate by asynchronous message passing. We illustrate the use of the language, including as an extended example a simple board game in which squares are implemented as concurrent processes. We also describe a window manager, itself implemented in the extended functional language. Keywords: functional language, processes, concurrency, window manager, Gofer. 1 Introduction and Motivation Most of the time, elements of a graphical user interface (GUI) operate independently. For example, a menu doesn't interact with the rest of the program until the user selects an option. The user can highlight options, open up further menus or move the menu around the screen, all without doing anything that should concern any other element of the program. Popular languages such as C do not readily lend the...

Citations