|
Prefix notation - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Accent, Addition, Alphabet, Annotation, Approximation, Arrangement, Art, Bar, Bit, Blueprint, Cancel, Character, Characterization, Characters, Chart, Choreography, Cipher, Code, Comment, Commentary |
|
|
|
Polish notation, also known as prefix notation was created by Jan Łukasiewicz. Operators are placed before operands.
+ 1 2
Yields (as expected) 3.
It is not limited to only two values, nor to just addition.
(* (+ 0 1) (+ 2 3))
Returns 5.
While the examples above use parantheses, one of the benefits of Polish notation is that, assuming the arity of each operator is known, parentheses are unnecessary: the order of operations is unique and easy to determine, if the expression is known to be correct. For example, assuming * and + are binary,
* + 0 1 + 2 3
can refer only to
(* (+ 0 1) (+ 2 3))
Polish notation is used in computer programming languages Lisp, Scheme (based on Lisp), and some others.
See also
|
|
Example Usage of notation |
 |
krazywane: Mental notation: next time stay at Palazzo or Bellagio, so many hotties!!! |
 |
centerdinPaly: Upcoming event: The Metaphysics of notation - 11/27/2009 http://bit.ly/6Pa2C8 #paloalto |
 |
josephholsten: @timbray The goal is to communicate clearly and concisely. if it's unambiguous, less notation is more concise. So usually, no comma. ∎ |
|
