Primitive function: Difference between revisions
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A primitive function is a [[function]] defined by the language. Outside of the array community, such functions may be called "builtin" or "intrinsic" functions. In APL, each is represented with a single [[glyph]]; in other languages, such as those restricted to [ | A '''primitive function''' is a [[function]] defined by the language. Outside of the array community, such functions may be called "builtin" or "intrinsic" functions. In APL, each is represented with a single [[glyph]]; in other languages, such as those restricted to [[wikipedia:ASCII|ASCII]] characters, they may use multiple characters ("bigraphs" and "trigraphs" are combinations of two and three characters, respectively). | ||
Other parts of APL which are written with a single glyph include [[ | Other parts of APL which are written with a single glyph include [[primitive operator]]s and [[Quad]]. | ||
Early APL implementations divided primitives into [[ | Early APL implementations divided primitives into [[scalar function]]s, which apply one element at a time, and [[mixed function]]s, which do not. Modern APLs universally retain the terminology "scalar function" but may deemphasize its opposite "mixed function" or subdivide it further. Two prominent subcategories of functions are [[structural function]]s, which rearrange elements of the argument or its subarrays without regard to their values, and [[set function]]s, which return a result or manipulate arrays based on which [[cell]]s or [[element]]s [[match]] other cells or elements. | ||
A function is distinct from the [[glyph]] used to denote it. Different APLs, or even one APL (using [[ | A function is distinct from the [[glyph]] used to denote it. Different APLs, or even one APL (using [[migration level]]) might use the same glyph for multiple functions, or different glyphs for identical or similar functions. The term "function" can, depending on context, refer either to an [[ambivalent]] function which can be applied with one or two arguments, or the [[monadic]] or [[dyadic]] function obtained by restricting that function to either one or two arguments specifically. | ||
{{APL built-ins}} | {{APL built-ins}} |