Flexible Operators in Sparrow

Abstract

Operators are a fundamental tool in programming languages, allowing computations to be expressed in a natural and convenient manner. Custom operators are supported by many programming languages, however their underlying mechanisms typically suffer from various limitations. This paper describes a method of defining and customizing operators at the library level in the Sparrow programming language. We argue that our system is more flexible than what other languages have to offer, and that it allows operators to be defined and used in a straightforward and natural way.