In computer science, an evaluation strategy is a set of (usually deterministic) rules for evaluating expressions in a programming language. Emphasis is typically placed on functions or operators: an evaluation strategy defines when and in what order the arguments to a function are evaluated, when they are substituted into the function, and what form that substitution takes. The lambda calculus, a formal system for the study of functions, has often been used to model evaluation strategies, where they are usually called reduction strategies. Evaluation strategies divide into two basic groups, strict and non-strict, based on how arguments to a function are handled. A language may combine several evaluation strategies; for example, C++ combines call-by-value with call-by-reference. Most languages that are predominantly strict use some form of non-strict evaluation for boolean expressions and if-statements.
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Famous quotes containing the words evaluation and/or strategy:
“Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it.”
—Colin Powell (b. 1937)