[Edu-sig] Goofing with Groups

[Tim Peters]

[Kirby Urner]
> ...
> PS:  Anyone out there using SETL?  The docs say UNIX and
> DOS, don't mention Linux and Windows, and so are showing
> their age.  Not object oriented, designed to work with
> sets as a high level data structure, with interesting
> constructors for defining 'em, operators for combining
> 'em.

SETL was developed in the late 1960s and early 70s, and like several
languages developed then, is still decades ahead of its time <0.9 wink>.  Of
particular interest to you is ISETLW, a variant of ISETL developed for
Windows (hence the "W"), which is in turn an interactive (hence the "I")
variant of SETL:

    http://csis03.muc.edu/isetlw/isetlw.htm

ISETLW was (still is? don't know) used in the Perdue Calculus Reform
Project, "a pedagogical approach based on a constructivist theoretical
perspective of how mathematics is learned" (which I paraphrase as "imagine
that, people learn by doing!?").  There are links to that project on the
ISETLW home page above, although it doesn't look like the pages they point
to have been updated in years.

David Bacon probably maintains the best set of pages about the current state
of SETL, here:

    http://www-robotics.eecs.lehigh.edu/~bacon/

In undiluted form, SETL may be the closest thing to an "ultra high level"
programming language I've seen.  Any language in which "om" is a reserved
word *must* be ultra high level <wink>.

passionate-affairs-are-great-python-will-still-be-here-faithfully-
    awaiting-your-return-ly y'rs  - tim