>
> On May 3, 2009, at 4:44 PM, D. Daniel McGlothin wrote:
>
> AGSCalabrese wrote:
>>> On May 3, 2009, at 12:12 PM, Mike Harrison wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sun, 3 May 2009 11:49:09 -0600, you wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I have googled around and have not found a webpage explaining
>>>> the data type "string" without referring to a programming language.
>>>> Can someone point me to a URL that describes strings and useful
>>>> operations on strings in the abstract without referring to a  
>>>> specific
>>>> language ?
>>>>
>>>> Gus Calabrese
>>>>
>>> String handling is always language dependent, as there are different
>>> ways of representing them, and
>>> different sets of standard operations.
>>>
>>>
>> Of course string handling is language dependent, but just as you can
>> discuss
>> sorting algorithms independent of a language, you should be able to
>> discuss
>> string handling independent of a language.
>> Gus
>>
>>
>
> Have you considered
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_(computer_science)  and
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_operations  ?
>
> Perhaps _Abstract data types_  by Henry M. Walker (
> http://books.google.com/books?id=gCAbDb0u7b0C ) starting with section
> called 'Sequences" on page 222.
>
> For myself, however, I'd just pick up a good article on string
> processing in, say, one of the current BASICs or python, or even the C
> string library , and just read it as if the string operations  
> described
> were fundamental basics.  Most of those operators are present because
> there were found to be highly useful in practice.  In the process,  
> don't
> overlook the regular expression tools, or the phonetic-like tools such
> as soundex.
>
> A purist might also want to consult a SNOBOL description (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNOBOL ).
>
> I'm curious, what does the discussion 'in abstract' offer that is  
> absent
> from a specific language's string operation library?
>
> Daniel

My students freak when exposed to actual programming language variances.
Gus
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