The Description of Large Systems,

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the problems associated with the description and manipulation of large systems when their sources are not maintained as single files. We show why and how tools that address these issues, such as Unix MAKE and Lisp Machine DEFSYSTEM, have evolved. Existing formalisms suffer from the problem that their syntax is not easily separable from their functionality. In programming languages, standard 'calling conventions' exist to insulate the caller of a function from the syntactic details of how that function was defined, but until now no such conventions have existed to hide consumers of program systems from the details of how those systems were specified. We propose a low-level data abstraction which can support notations such as those used by MAKE and DEFSYSTEM without requiring that the introduction of a new notation be accompanied by a completely different set of tools for instantiating or otherwise manipulating the resulting system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA148072

Entities

People

  • K. Pitman

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Compilers
  • Complex Systems
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Consumers
  • Environment
  • High Level Language Architecture
  • Language
  • Maintenance
  • Notation
  • Programming Languages
  • Specifications
  • Standards

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics