Callbyneed

1 definition found

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  call-by-need
       
           A {reduction strategy} which delays evaluation of
          function arguments until they are needed because they are
          arguments to a {primitive} function or a conditional.
          Call-by-need is one part of {lazy evaluation}.


       
          The term first appears in Chris Wadsworth's thesis "Semantics
          and Pragmatics of the Lambda calculus" (Oxford, 1971, p. 183).
          It was used later, by J. Vuillemin in his thesis (Stanford,
          1973).
       
          (1995-05-27)