Re: technology discussion → does the world need a "new" C ?

Ben Bacarisse <ben@bsb.me.uk> writes:

Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> writes:

[...]

I'm mildly disappointed.  Since arguments are *passed* and
functions/procedures are *called*, surely it would have made more sense
to use "pass by value" rather than "call by value", especially in a
language where the mechanism can vary per parameter.

>
All that is, I think, due to subsequent changes in (English) language
use.  In Algol 60, procedures were invoked and /parameters/ were called
by value or name.  Maybe the term was intended to reflect the idea that
the code in the body "called for the value" of the parameter.
>
The word "call" now refers, almost universally, to invoking a function
or procedure.  As a result, the idea of "calling a parameter" reads
oddly, but at the time I'm sure it seemed perfectly reasonable.

I just searched the Algol 60 report for all occurrences of the word
"call".  It does refer to both procedures and parameters being "called",
but parameters are only "called by value" or "called by name", never
just "called".

It's difficult to tell what the idiomatic usage would have been at the
time.

[...]

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */