Abstract:

All "real" programming languages offer a convenient syntax for widely used values such as numbers, arithmetic operations, array subscripts, strings, etc. Instead of a list of particular operations with ad-hoc syntax, we propose to offer a richer general syntax for terms, that is independent of any particular type or value and is available for any new operation definition. The use of a particular syntactic form is thus completely uncoupled from any particular semantics. We then present, discuss and illustrate a collection of syntax forms: functional, infix (both already available in LOTOS), sequences, selectors and modifiers, structure builders, characters and strings, numbers. We also take account of the technical aspects involved in the syntax analysis of such forms.