On 6/16/12 1:24 AM, wren ng thornton wrote:
"Future" is a generic term for a particular way of thinking about the life cycle of variables (both in AliceML, Mozart/Oz, and in the literature). From this perspective *all* variables are futures. For example, in the AliceML url you provide, they specifically qualify the different kinds of futures:
* concurrent futures --- something like Async
* lazy futures --- what Haskell has by default
* promised futures --- for tying the knot; akin to "static" in Java
Durr, I meant "final" for the non-static members in Java.
* immediate futures (not mentioned on the AliceML page) --- the standard all-at-once way of introducing, binding, and evaluating variables.
Of course, the concurrent/lazy/promised qualifiers can be combined since they define orthogonal axes of temporal distinction.
-- Live well, ~wren