Stack Environment Control Dump Machine

What Does Stack Environment Control Dump Machine Mean?

A Stack Environment Control Dump machine (SECD machine) is an abstract machine made for the implementation of functional programming. A SECD machine contains registers "stack control and dump" and what experts refer to as an associative array in terms of environment, to help with the compiling of functional programming languages.

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Techopedia Explains Stack Environment Control Dump Machine

The idea of the SECD machine is attributed to Peter Landon in his work “The Mechanical Evaluation of Expressions” in 1964. More recently, technologies such as a certain offshoot of Lisp utilize this sort of abstract machine design. As a stack-based technology, the SECD machine involves functions taking an argument from the stack, with specific rules and protocols to facilitate this type of computing.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…