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

On 16.09.2024 12:37, Keith Thompson wrote:

Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> writes:

>
[ snip nice write-up ]

 
I honestly do not understand the argument you're making in favor of
"call by" over "pass by".  ("Hoi polloi"?  Seriously?)
 
Procedures and functions are "called", yes?  They're not "passed",
except perhaps as an argument to another procedure or function.
 
Arguments to procedures and functions are "passed", yes?  Would it make
sense to say that an argument is "called"?  (I note that the Algol 60
report never refers to parameters being "called" other than in the
phrases "call by value" and "call by name".)
 
If you think that "calling an argument" or "calling a parameter" makes
sense, perhaps that's the root of the disagreement.  Do you?
 
[ snip example and associated explanation ]
 
Other than historical precedent from Algol and friends, why do you think
it's better to use "call by value" and "call by reference" rather than
"pass by value" and "pass by reference", when the mechanism applies
individually to each argument, not to the call as a whole?
 
Do you object to using the word "pass" (without "by ...") to refer to
the arguments to a function?  If not, why do you object to "pass by ..."
to refer to the mechanism?

Maybe it's useful to take a textbook (or memories from lectures) to
see how in these past days parameter handling was expressed/explained.

In the domain of German speaking countries - isn't Tim located there?
(I somehow got the impression) - we've heard about "Parameterübergabe";
"Übergabe" means passing, transferring, handing over, transmitting, etc.

Because of that - and because I could not follow the thoughts of Tim's
last paragraph with his conclusion; I didn't find it convincing - I'd
think that "passing" would fit better, also in the light of historic
usage [hereabouts], even though I've often heared (and also used) the
phrase "call by" in the English CS domain in the past (and probably
still used to it).

Janis

PS: And a smile on your comment: ("Hoi polloi"?  Seriously?)  :-)