Long literals, with continuations
This task is about writing a computer program that has long literals (character literals that may require specifying the words/tokens on more than one (source) line, either with continuations or some other method, such as abutments or concatenations (or some other mechanisms).
The literal is to be in the form of a "list", a literal that contains many
words (tokens) separated by a blank (space), in this case (so as to have a
common list), the (English) names of the chemical elements of the periodic table.
The list is to be in (ascending) order of the element's atomic number:
hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon sodium aluminum silicon ...
... up to the last known (named) element (at this time).
Do not include any of the "unnamed" element names such as:
ununennium unquadnilium triunhexium penthextrium penthexpentium septhexunium octenntrium ennennbium
To make computer programming languages comparable, the statement widths should be
restricted to less than 81 bytes (characters), or less
if a computer programming language has more restrictive limitations or standards.
Also mention what column the programming statements can start in if not in column one.
The list may have leading/embedded/trailing blanks during the
declaration (the actual program statements), this is allow the list to be
more readable. The "final" list shouldn't have any leading/trailing or superfluous
blanks (when stored in the program's "memory").
This list should be written with the idea in mind that the program will be updated, most likely someone other than the original author, as there will be newer (discovered) elements of the periodic table being added (possibly in the near future). These future updates should be one of the primary concerns in writing these programs and it should be "easy" for someone else to add chemical elements to the list (within the computer program).
Attention should be paid so as to not exceed the clause length of continued or specified statements, if there is such a restriction. If the limit is greater than (say) 4,000 bytes or so, it needn't be mentioned here.
- Task
-
- Write a computer program (by whatever name) to contain a list of the known elements.
- The program should eventually contain a long literal of words (the elements).
- The literal should show how one could create a long list of blank-delineated words.
- The "final" (stored) list should only have a single blank between elements.
- Try to use the most idiomatic approach(es) in creating the final list.
- Use continuation if possible, and/or show alternatives (possibly using concatenation).
- Use a program comment to explain what the continuation character is if not obvious.
- The program should contain a variable that has the date of the last update/revision.
- The program, when run, should display with verbiage:
- The last update/revision date (and should be unambiguous).
- The number of chemical elements in the list.
- The name of the highest (last) element name.
Show all output here, on this page.
REXX
using continuations
This method will not work for some REXXes such as PC/REXX and Personal REXX as those two REXXes have a clause length limit of 1,024 bytes.
The space BIF is used to eliminate superfluous blanks from the list.
Most modern REXX have no practical limit for a clause length. <lang rexx>/*REXX pgm illustrates how to code a list of words (named chemical elements */ /*──────────────────────── ordered by their atomic number) in a list format. */
$= 'hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon' ,
'nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon sodium magnesium' , 'aluminum silicon phosphorous sulfur chlorine argon' , 'potassium calcium scandium titanium vanadium chromium' , 'manganese iron cobalt nickel copper zinc' , 'gallium germanium arsenic selenium bromine krypton' , 'rubidium strontium yttrium zirconium niobium molybdenum', 'technetium ruthenium rhodium palladium silver cadmium' , 'indium tin antimony tellurium iodine xenon' , 'cesium barium lanthanum cerium praseodymium neodymium' , 'promethium samarium europium gadolinium terbium dysprosium', 'holmium erbium thulium ytterbium lutetium hafnium' , 'tantalum tungsten rhenium osmium iridium platinum' , 'gold mercury thallium lead bismuth polonium' , 'astatine radon francium radium actinium thorium' , 'protactinium uranium neptunium plutonium americium curium' , 'berkelium californium einsteinium fermium mendelevium nobelium' , 'lawrencium rutherfordium dubnium seaborgium bohrium hassium' , 'meitnerium darmstadtium roentgenium copernicium nihonium flerovium' , 'moscovium livermorium tennessine oganesson'
/* [↑] element list using continuation (commas).*/
updated= 'February 29th, 2020' /*date of the last revision of list.*/ say 'revision date of the list: ' updated /*show the date of the last update. */ elements= space($) /*elide excess blanks in the list*/
- = words(elements) /*the number of elements " " " */
say 'number of elements in the list: ' # /*show " " " " " " */ say 'the last element is: ' word($, #) /*stick a fork in it, we're all done*/</lang>
- output when using the default input:
===using concatenations===
The REXX version uses concatenation (also called abutment) to build the list.
<lang rexx>/*REXX pgm illustrates how to code a list of words (named chemical elements */
/*──────────────────────── ordered by their atomic number) in a list format. */
$= 'hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon'
$=$ 'nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon sodium magnesium'
$=$ 'aluminum silicon phosphorous sulfur chlorine argon'
$=$ 'potassium calcium scandium titanium vanadium chromium'
$=$ 'manganese iron cobalt nickel copper zinc'
$=$ 'gallium germanium arsenic selenium bromine krypton'
$=$ 'rubidium strontium yttrium zirconium niobium molybdenum'
$=$ 'technetium ruthenium rhodium palladium silver cadmium'
$=$ 'indium tin antimony tellurium iodine xenon'
$=$ 'cesium barium lanthanum cerium praseodymium neodymium'
$=$ 'promethium samarium europium gadolinium terbium dysprosium'
$=$ 'holmium erbium thulium ytterbium lutetium hafnium'
$=$ 'tantalum tungsten rhenium osmium iridium platinum'
$=$ 'gold mercury thallium lead bismuth polonium'
$=$ 'astatine radon francium radium actinium thorium'
$=$ 'protactinium uranium neptunium plutonium americium curium'
$=$ 'berkelium californium einsteinium fermium mendelevium nobelium'
$=$ 'lawrencium rutherfordium dubnium seaborgium bohrium hassium'
$=$ 'meitnerium darmstadtium roentgenium copernicium nihonium flerovium'
$=$ 'moscovium livermorium tennessine oganesson'
/* [↑] element list using abutments*/
update= '29Feb2020' /*date of the last revision of list.*/
say 'revision date of the list: ' update /*show the date of the last update. */
elements= space($) /*elide excess blanks in the list*/
#= words(elements) /*the number of elements " " " */
say 'number of elements in the list: ' # /*show " " " " " " */
say 'the last element is: ' word($, #) /*stick a fork in it, we're all done*/</lang>
{{out|output|text= when using the default input:}}
<pre
revision date of the list: 29Feb2020
number of elements in the list: 118
the last element is: oganesson