Since our language has no type declarations, there is really no difference between a structure and an array. In fact, a structure can always be used as an array, creating it with functor/3 and accessing elements with arg/3. However, this can look clumsy, especially in arithmetic expressions.
ECLiPSe therefore provides array syntax which enables the programmer to write code like
[eclipse 1]: Prime = a(2,3,5,7,11), X is Prime[2] + Prime[4]. X = 10 Prime = a(2, 3, 5, 7, 11) yes.
Within expressions, array elements can be written as variable-indexlist or structure-indexlist sequences, e.g.,
X[3] + M[3,4] + s(4,5,6)[3]
Indices run from 1 up to the arity of the array-structure. The number of array dimensions is not limited.
To create multi-dimensional arrays conveniently, the built-in dim/2 is provided (it can also be used backwards to access the array dimensions):
[eclipse]: dim(M,[3,4]), dim(M,D). M = []([](_131, _132, _133, _134), [](_126, _127, _128, _129), [](_121, _122, _123, _124)) D = [3, 4] yes.
Although dim/2 creates all structures with the functor [ ], this has no significance other than reminding the programmer that these structures are intended to represent arrays.
Array notation is especially useful within loops. Here is the code for a matrix multiplication routine:
matmult(M1, M2, M3) :- dim(M1, [MaxIJ,MaxK]), dim(M2, [MaxK,MaxIJ]), dim(M3, [MaxIJ,MaxIJ]), ( for(I,1,MaxIJ), param(M1,M2,M3,MaxIJ,MaxK) do ( for(J,1,MaxIJ), param(M1,M2,M3,I,MaxK) do ( for(K,1,MaxK), fromto(0,Sum0,Sum1,Sum), param(M1,M2,I,J) do Sum1 is Sum0 + M1[I,K] * M2[K,J] ), subscript(M3, [I,J], Sum) ) ).
Array syntax is implemented by parsing variable-list and structure-list sequences as terms with the functor subscript/2. For example:
X[3] ---> subscript(X, [3]) M[3,4] ---> subscript(M, [3,4]) s(4,5,6)[3] ---> subscript(s(4,5,6), [3])
If such a term is then used within an arithmetic expression, a result argument is added and the built-in predicate subscript/3 is called, which is a generalised form of arg/3 and extracts the indicated array element.
When printed, subscript/2 terms are again printed in array notation, unless the print-option to suppress operator notation (O) is used.