The function-class

• Authors: Toshiaki Kurokawa
• Venue: LFP '80 Proceedings of the 1980 ACM conference on LISP and functional programming
• Year: 1980

The 'function-class' concept is introduced and explained in this paper. The 'function-class' specifies the function's input procedure, input requirement, output requirement and output procedure. It includes the argument evaluation process in its input procedure part, and the output value type in its output requirement part. But it has other components which can describe the function's behavior in more detail. The 'function-class' can be represented in a declarative form, i.e. in a calculus form using *, +, and − operators. The function can also be defined in a declarative form. This format increases the readability of the program. The feasibility of the 'function class' is considered in the context of its implementation in LISP-like environments. The 'function-class' idea is not restricted to LISP language, although it has been originally developed in the LISP-1.9 context. There are several utilizations including program checking and optimized compilation.