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From: Axel Reichert <mail@axel-reichert.de>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.awk
Subject: Re: Operator precedence
Date: Thu, 23 May 2024 19:14:44 +0200
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Kaz Kylheku <643-408-1753@kylheku.com> writes:

> Furthermore exponentation between on an intermediate precedence level
> between unary minus and regular minus is simply insane.

This is a very good argument! Prior to reading it I was kind of
indifferent (at least in infix programming languages, but not in typeset
mathematics).

> I made it n-ary in TXR Lisp:
>
> 1> (expt 5 2)
> 25
> 2> (expt 5 2 3)
> 390625

.... so conforming to the habit of typeset mathematics, which is based on
the fact that

    c
   b
  a

could be written as

   bc
  a

if meant to be left-associative. So having it right associative is the
more terse convention.

For further reading,

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_operations

is informative, while

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%27s_number
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth%27s_up-arrow_notation

are curiosities. Have fun!

Axel