| Chapter 9. System Functions | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Part II. SIMPOL Language Basics |  |
Chapter 9. System Functions
Table of Contents
The Nature of System Functions
System functions differ from intrinsic functions in several ways. They are allowed to have named parameters (or not), the parameters can have default values, and not all parameters are required. To differentiate between the intrinsic functions and the system functions, the former begin with a dot and the latter with an exclamation mark. In both cases this has been done to ensure future compatibility of code. New functions that are added to the language as part of core SIMPOL will have either the dot or the exclamation mark at the beginning and will therefore never be able to have the same name as a user-defined function. This chapter discusses the various system function that are part of SIMPOL.