Traditional assignment considered harmful
Authors: 
Scott M. Pike, 
Wayne D. Heym, Bruce Adcock, Derek Bronish, Jason Kirschenbaum, Bruce W. WeideAuthors Info & Claims
Scott M. Pike, Wayne D. Heym, Bruce Adcock, Derek Bronish, Jason Kirschenbaum, Bruce W. WeideAuthors Info & ClaimsPages 909 - 916
Abstract
Data movement in nearly all modern imperative languages is based on a single primitive: traditional assignment. (With traditional assignment, data are moved between variables by copying.) Unfortunately, traditional assignment poses many known software engineering drawbacks with respect to efficiency for value types, and with respect to modular reasoning for reference types. Moreover, its entrenched legacy has stifled serious regard of potentially superior data-movement primitives. Exploration of the complete design space for data-movement primitives supports the following conclusions: (1) traditional assignment is fundamentally flawed, and (2) any other data-movement primitive would be better.
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Index Terms
- Traditional assignment considered harmful
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Published In
October 2009
502 pages
ISBN:9781605587684
DOI:10.1145/1639950
- Conference Chairs:
- Shail Arora,
- Bernd Bruegge,
- Program Chairs:
- Gary Leavens,
- Yvonne Coady,
- Simon Peyton-Jones
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Published: 25 October 2009
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