Английская Википедия:FLOW (programming language)
Шаблон:About Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox programming language
FLOW is an educational programming language designed by Jef Raskin in 1970 and implemented on several minicomputers in the early 1970s. The goal of the language is to make it easy to explore algorithms through a highly interactive environment. The overall language is very similar in syntax and structure to the BASIC programming language, but has a number of changes in order to make typing code easier. Most notable among these was the concept of "typing amplification", in which short strings, often a single character, were expanded by the language into the complete "unamplified" source code. Modern integrated development environments and code-oriented text editors often include a similar feature, now normally referred to as autocomplete. The beginning programmer would first create a flow chart to solve the problem. Since all of the problems involved words (rather than mathematical problems) the solution was intuitive. The flow chart would be translated into the flow programming language using a top-down, mechanical method.
History
In 1970, the English Department of the University of Kansas hosted a meeting on the use of computers in the humanities. The conference was followed by a training session that ran from June 13 to August 18, where Jef Raskin was one of several teachers involved in training other teachers basic computer skills. During this period, Raskin developed the FLOW language concept.Шаблон:Sfn
A key design element of FLOW was the attempt to avoid syntax errors by automating the entry of the language as much as possible. For instance, if one wanted to enter the statement Шаблон:Code, the user simply had to type Шаблон:Code and the interactive editor would expand it out as they typed. If the user entered an illegal command, it would flash on the terminal and then be automatically erased so the user was "none the worse for hitting a wrong key". They referred to this concept as "typing amplification", and noted that it had the added advantage of removing an impediment for slow typers or those with physical problems using a terminal.Шаблон:Sfn
Lewis and Norman later referred to this concept as "gag", in that it gagged the user's input until they typed something useful. They illustrated this by recounting one of Raskin's favorite demonstrations of FLOW, where he would close his eyes and hit random keys on the terminal, building a syntactically correct, albeit meaningless, program.Шаблон:Sfn
Another aspect of the FLOW system's approach to user interaction was its debugger. This included the command Шаблон:Code, an analog to BASIC's Шаблон:Code that delayed after executing each statement in a fashion similar to modern single-step systems.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
On his return to University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Raskin was able to arrange funding from UCSD and matching funds from the National Science Foundation to purchase equipment to develop the FLOW system, a total of $76,000 (Шаблон:Inflation).Шаблон:Sfn The initial system consisted of three Data General Nova minicomputers with 12k words of memory, several VST 1200 terminals, a Tektronix 4002 graphics terminal, and an HP 7200 plotter. In September 1973 the CPUs were updated to 32k words of memory.Шаблон:Sfn
The first version of FLOW was programmed by Jonathan "Jon" Collins in FORTRAN for use at the summer institute. To facilitate a quick implementation (1 week), Jonathan restricted input to the first character of the command with the computer supplying the balance of the command letters. Hence, typing amplification was invented. Flow was later ported by two UCSD graduate students to Nova assembler language. Later ports included MICRO 800 assembler, BASIC and Algol.Шаблон:Sfn
Description
Overall organization
Like BASIC, FLOW uses line numbers both as an editing aid as well as statement labels. Unlike most BASICs, FLOW automatically numbers programs starting at line 10 and incrementing by 10 as new lines are entered. The line numbers are formatted as three digits, so line 10 is displayed as 010. Users can also enter line numbers manually, and renumber the entire program with the Шаблон:Code command.Шаблон:Sfn
In contrast to BASIC, the Шаблон:Code command can be instructed to stop once a given line was reached, for instance, Шаблон:Code. To enter this command, the user simply types Шаблон:Code, with the rest being "amplified" into the command line.Шаблон:Sfn
Syntax and capabilities
The most obvious difference between FLOW and BASIC was that FLOW has only one variable, Шаблон:Code, and lacks mathematical operators. The language has only seven statements, all of which apply basic logic or string manipulation. There is no equivalent of the for loop either, looping is handled entirely through Шаблон:Code tests and Шаблон:Code statements.Шаблон:Sfn
The language does not have direct user interaction like BASIC's Шаблон:Code, data is instead defined in FLOW's analog of BASIC's Шаблон:Code statement, Шаблон:Code. Шаблон:Code defines a quote-delimited string, like Шаблон:Code, which is then read character-at-a-time using the Шаблон:Code. Шаблон:Code is a meta-variable that contains the last read character, and can then be used in other statements, like Шаблон:Code. Шаблон:Code becomes a blank -not an empty string but a single space- when the Шаблон:Code is completely read.Шаблон:Sfn
Programs can contain multiple Шаблон:Code statements, but unlike BASIC's Шаблон:Code where all of the lines are considered to be one continuous block of data, only one Шаблон:Code statement is active at a time as they are encountered by the interpreter. In other words, if there are two Шаблон:Code statements in a program, they are not treated as one longer statement as is the case with Шаблон:Code, Шаблон:Code will return a blank when it runs off the end of the active Шаблон:Code statement and will not return more data until the next Шаблон:Code statement is encountered in the code.Шаблон:Sfn
Statements
From:Шаблон:Sfn
Program statements
- Шаблон:Code - equivalent to BASIC's Шаблон:Code
- Шаблон:Code - as in BASIC, takes literal strings between double quotes, the Шаблон:Code variable, or Шаблон:Code to print a carriage return.
- Шаблон:Code - similar to Шаблон:Code in BASIC, but used for strings only
- Шаблон:Code - reads the next character from the current TEXT statement
- Шаблон:Code - equivalent to Шаблон:Code, always expands target lines to three digits
- Шаблон:Code - equivalent to Шаблон:Code but can perform only equality tests against Шаблон:Code
- Шаблон:Code - used to end a program, but not required
Interactive commands
- Шаблон:Code - as in BASIC but can define both the start and end lines and use meta-lines Шаблон:Code and Шаблон:Code
- Шаблон:Code - executes the program slowly
- Шаблон:Code - equivalent to Шаблон:Code. To list the entire program, one uses Шаблон:Code
- Шаблон:Code - remove lines from a program, Шаблон:Code
- Шаблон:Code - renumber the lines in the program
Example
010 COMMENT FIND IF A WORD HAS EITHER AN "F" OR A "G" IN IT 020 COMMENT BY LYRA FORET 19 OCTOBER 1971 030 COMMENT 040 COMMENT SOME TEST CASES ARE FOX, GOPHER, RAT, DOG, CAT 050 COMMENT THE RESPECTIVE ANSWERS SHOULD BE YES, YES, NO, YES, NO. 060 COMMENT 070 TEXT IS "DOG" 080 COMMENT OBTAIN A LETTER OF THE TEXT 090 GET IT 100 COMMENT CHECK FOR A BLANK WHICH INDICATES END OF WORD 110 IF IT IS " " JUMP TO 500 120 COMMENT CHECK FOR F'S OR G'S 130 IF IT IS "F" JUMP TO 200 140 IF IT IS "G" JUMP TO 200 150 COMMENT IT WAS SOME OTHER LETTER, SO GO ON TO THE NEXT CHAR. IN THE TEXT 160 JUMP TO 080 200 PRINT "THE WORD HAD AN 'F' OR A 'G' IN IT." 210 COMMENT WE ARE DONE 220 STOP 500 PRINT "THE WORD DID NOT HAVE AN "F' OR A 'G' IN IT."
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
- Flow, a modern implementation of FLOW in LISP
