Vectorizing Dylan?

[hmadorf@eso.org]

Dear Dylan-enthusiasts,

I recently vectorized MacintoshCL via a set of macros. Now I
can say e.g. (+ a b) where a and b may be numbers OR vectors, or 
lists, or arrays of numbers and the code does the obvious thing. 
Or I can say (sin a) and if a is a vector the Sine function of all 
elements will be computed and a vector returned.

Since you are working on a language for the 1990ies, where I expect
to see more vector processors than today, I wonder whether it would 
not be appropriate to include vectorizing constructs into Dylan from
the beginning. It would certainly facilitate the high-level
implementation of many numerical algorithms that can be expressed on
the abstraction level of mathematical vectors or arrays.

I can provide further information on VectorCL if needed.

Cheers
Hans-Martin Adorf
ST-ECF/ESO
Garching b Muenchen
FRG