Prefix Notation

[markgritter]

Brian Hayes discusses whether binary operators and relations need be binary at all. In Scheme, the expression x + y is written (+ x y) and generalizes naturally to (+ x y z a b c). Well, what about (+ x)? That seems harmless enough. But consider (+)? Or (min)?

(= a b) can be extended to the "all equal" relation (= a b c) but what does (!= a b

Comments

[anonymous]

(+) = 0; (min) = infinity

[markgritter]

Yes, but Scheme doesn't have an infinity value--- it has big ints.