Is there a language that allows this syntax: add(elements)at(index); [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a language out there in which parameters are placed inside method name?

Does a language exist with such a syntax? If not, what are some of the limitations/disadvantages to this syntax in case I want to write a language that supported it?

Some examples:

sort(array, fromIndex, toIndex);

vs

sort(array)from(index1)to(index2);

Method signature would like this:

sort(SomeType[] arr)from(int begin)to(int end){
...
}

---

Update:

Because there might be some confusion, I'd like to clarify... I meant this question as a general idea like this (not specific to sorting and possibly using keywords like from and to):

In JAVA(like language):

void myfancymethod(int arg1, String arg2){
...
}

myfancymethod(1, "foo");

In imaginary language:

void my(int arg1)fancy(String arg2)method{
...
}

my(1)fancy("foo")method;

Answer 1

Smalltalk and derived languages (including Objective C) use a syntax like this for method calls.

In Objective C, for instance, one can work with an NSMutableArray container with something like:

id a = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: 3]

[a insertObject: @"Bob" atIndex: 0] 
[a insertObject: @"Fred" atIndex: 1]
[a insertObject: @"Mary" atIndex: 2]    

[a replaceObjectAtIndex: 3 withObject: @"Hello, World!"]

Answer 2

If you create a fluent interface, you can write it more or less like this:

array.From(fromIndex).To(toIndex).Sort();

But method overload resolution will give you simpler syntax:

array.Sort(fromIndex, toIndex);

...and if you name things sensibly, it's still self-describing.

If you still need the descriptive verbiage, some languages (like C# 4.0) allow you to specify the names for each method parameter:

array.Sort(from:= fromIndex, to:= toIndex);

Answer 3

In Agda an identifier containing underscores can be used infix. Consider the declaration of if:

if_then_else_ : {A : Set} -> Bool -> A -> A -> A
if true  then x else y = x
if false then x else y = y

Answer 4

I'm not aware of any language with syntax quite like that, although QBasic and Visual Basic had some built-in statements with custom syntax, like "LINE (10,10)-(80,95)".

I like your idea as a general-purpose feature. I think "sort(array from index1 to index2)" would look slightly more attractive and be easier to type, and presumably you're talking about a single function call here, which is not as clear if several sets of parenthesis are required. Parsing might be challenging: "from" and "to" basically represent commas in the syntax I just suggested, but the parser wouldn't know that for certain until the function name is resolved. However, it could be parsed as a sequence of expressions: (array), (from), (index1), (to), (index2) where (from) and (to) are replaced with commas during semantic analysis.

Instead of defining "sort" in a special way, you could also envision this as a way of representing named parameters:

sort (SomeType[] arr, int from, int to) { ... } // declaration
sort (arr from: index1 to: index2); // possible call syntax 1
sort (arr, from index1, to index2); // possible call syntax 2
sort (arr from index1 to index2); // possible call syntax 3

Answer 5

You could write your example in Tcl like this if you wrote your own sort function:

sort array from $index1 to $index2

Answer 6

TeX has this kind of functionality: you can define for example:

\def\say #1 to #2.{#2 said: ``#1.''}

And use it:

\say Hello to Mike.

To get:

Mike said: ``Hello.''

This allows for some nice syntactic tricks.