Apple Calculator Language：苹果早期员工的计算器编程语言提案

苹果公司早期员工Jef Raskin在1979年提出了一个名为Apple Calculator Language的计算器编程语言提案1。这个语言采用严格的从左到右计算方式，不遵循传统的运算优先级规则，例如6/3+2*5会得到20而非161。该语言引入了"clump"（数据块）的概念来处理相邻数字，将"34 5 67"这样的数字序列视为一个整体1。

Raskin的原始草稿中包含了对当时多种编程语言的评价，涉及ALGOL、APL、BASIC、Cobol、Fortran、Lisp、Pascal、PL/1和SNOBOL等1。他对BASIC特别持批评态度1。原始提案中的162个示例在后来的实现中完全可以运行，尽管有4个示例与规则产生了矛盾1。开发者使用Claude Opus 5构建了该语言的可运行实现版本1。

Jef Raskin, an early Apple employee, proposed a calculator-based programming language in 1979 that fundamentally departed from conventional arithmetic rules 1. The language, known as the Apple Calculator Language, enforced strict left-to-right evaluation without regard for operator precedence—meaning an expression like 6/3+2*5 would evaluate to 20 rather than 16 1. This approach reflected Raskin's distinctive vision for how calculations should be processed in a computational environment.

The language introduced the concept of "clumps" to handle adjacent numerals as unified data blocks, so that sequences like "34 5 67" would be treated as a single entity rather than separate values 1. Raskin's design philosophy extended beyond the calculator language itself; his documentation from the period contained assessments of contemporary programming languages including ALGOL, APL, BASIC, COBOL, Fortran, Lisp, Pascal, PL/1, and SNOBOL 1. He was notably critical of BASIC, which he considered inadequate 1.

The original proposal included 162 examples, of which a working implementation successfully executed all but four—those four examples contained contradictions with the established rules 1. A functional version of the language was later constructed using Claude Opus 5, allowing Raskin's decades-old concept to be operationalized and tested 1.