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opalmore about opal

opal

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Opal  \O"pal\,  n.  [L.  opalus:  cf  Gr  ?,  Skr.  upala  a  rock, 
  stone,  precious  stone:  cf  F.  opale.]  (Min.) 
  A  mineral  consisting,  like  quartz,  of  silica,  but  inferior  to 
  quartz  in  hardness  and  specific  gravity. 
 
  Note:  The  precious  opal  presents  a  peculiar  play  of  colors  of 
  delicate  tints,  and  is  highly  esteemed  as  a  gem.  One 
  kind  with  a  varied  play  of  color  in  a  reddish  ground, 
  is  called  the  harlequin  opal.  The  fire  opal  has  colors 
  like  the  red  and  yellow  of  flame.  Common  opal  has  a 
  milky  appearance.  Menilite  is  a  brown  impure  variety, 
  occurring  in  concretions  at  Menilmontant  near  Paris. 
  Other  varieties  are  cacholong,  girasol,  hyalite,  and 
  geyserite. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  opal 
  n  :  a  translucent  mineral  consisting  of  hydrated  silica  of 
  variable  color;  some  varieties  are  used  as  gemstones 
 
  From  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Opal,  SD 
  Zip  code(s):  57765 
  Opal,  WY  (town,  FIPS  57810) 
  Location:  41.76996  N,  110.32082  W 
  Population  (1990):  95  (54  housing  units) 
  Area:  1.1  sq  km  (land),  0.0  sq  km  (water) 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  Opal 
 
  1.  A  {DSP}  language. 
 
  ["OPAL:  A  High  Level  Language  and  Environment  for  DSP  boards 
  on  PC",  J.P.  Schwartz  et  al  Proc  ICASSP-89,  1989]. 
 
  2.  The  language  of  the  {object-oriented  database}  {GemStone}. 
 
  ["Making  Smalltalk  a  Database  System",  G.  Copeland  et  al  Proc 
  SIGMOD'84,  ACM  1984,  pp.316-  325]. 
 
  3.  A  {simulation}  language  with  provision  for  {stochastic 
  variable}s.  An  extension  of  {Autostat}. 
 
  ["C-E-I-R  OPAL",  D.  Pilling,  Internal  Report, 
  C.E.I.R.  Ltd.  (1963)]. 
 
  4.  A  language  for  compiler  testing  said  to  be  used  internally 
  by  {DEC}. 
 
  5.  A  {functional  programming}  language  designed  at  the 
  {Technische  Universitaet  Berlin}  as  a  testbed  for  the 
  development  of  {functional  program}s.  OPAL  integrates 
  concepts  from  Algebraic  Specification  and  Functional 
  Programming,  which  favour  the  (formal)  development  of  large 
  production-quality  software  written  in  a  {purely  functional} 
  style. 
 
  The  core  of  OPAL  is  a  {strongly  typed},  {higher-order}, 
  {strict}  applicative  language  which  belongs  to  the  tradition 
  of  {Hope}  and  {ML}.  The  algebraic  flavour  of  OPAL  is  visible 
  in  the  syntactical  appearance  and  in  the  preference  of 
  {parameterisation}  to  {polymorphism}. 
 
  OPAL  supports:  {information  hiding}  -  each  language  unit  is 
  divided  into  an  interface  (signature)  and  an  implementation 
  part  selective  import;  {parameterised  module}s;  free 
  constructor  {views}  on  {sorts},  which  allow  pattern-based 
  function  definitions  despite  quite  different  implementations; 
  full  {overloading}  of  names  puristic  scheme  language  with  no 
  {built-in}  data  types  (except  {Boolean}s  and  denotations). 
 
  OPAL  and  its  predecessor  OPAL-0  have  been  used  for  some  time 
  at  the  Technische  Universitaet  Berlin  in  CS  courses  and  for 
  research  into  optimising  compilers  for  applicative  languages. 
  The  OPAL  compiler  itself  is  writte  entirely  in  OPAL. 
 
  An  overview  is  given  in  "OPAL:  Design  And  Implementation  of  an 
  Algebraic  Programming  Language". 
 
  {Home  (http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~opal/)} 
 
  {(ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/local/uebb/papers/DesignImplOpal.ps.gz)}. 
 
  (1995-02-16)




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