[Tfug] SNOBOL expression

[Robert Hunter]

Anyone who has attended the UA CS program probably has at some point
encountered Icon, which is a descendant of SNOBOL.

Although I am not familiar with SNOBOL per se, your regular
expressions seem to describe  a string of zero or more alphanumeric
characters, followed by a second string of similar description.  With
out any additional context, I would say both expression are equivalent
if ARBNO (arbitrary number?) also allows for zero occurrences.  Also,
I believe they are equivalent to a single string of zero or more
alphanumeric characters, but I am not in the mood to sit down and do
the proof. :-)

On 2/28/06, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Anyone proficient in SNOBOL, here?  (yeah, I know...
> a long shot  :<  )
>
> In particular, to verify the subtle difference
> between, e.g.,
>
> ([:alpha:]*)([:alpha:]*)
>
> and
>
> ARBNO(ALPHA) ARBNO(ALPHA)
>
> Hmmm... maybe I should just see if there is an
> interpreter available and run some test cases...
>
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--
Rob