Re: About MathML expression.

"Hyunju Shim" < hshim@cise.ufl.edu
<mailto:hshim@cise.ufl.edu?Subject=Re:%20About%20MathML%20expression.&In-Rep
ly-To=%3C87d6o05cnr.fsf@sophia.inria.fr%3E&References=%3C87d6o05cnr.fsf@soph
ia.inria.fr%3E>> writes:

> Is it possible to program with MathML?
In response Max Froumentin < mf@w3.org
<mailto:mf@w3.org?Subject=Re:%20About%20MathML%20expression.&In-Reply-To=%3C
87d6o05cnr.fsf@sophia.inria.fr%3E&References=%3C87d6o05cnr.fsf@sophia.inria.
fr%3E>> writes:

>No, MathML is not a programming language. It is just a markup language
>to express mathematical formulas. You can use those formulas to
>perform computation using software that understands the language, but
>you cannot express programming language statements like variables
>or loops.

In fact it is possible to use content MathML to program, if you use lambda
calculus (so that you can assign expressions an identity, and thus perform
recursion, enabling you to create loops) and piecewise elements (so that you
can perform branches to break out of loops). Of course, you will need to
write an application that evaluates your MathML expressions. 
This application will need to have a mechanism to provide the expressions
with input data (I suggest using the csymbol mechanism).

Kind regards,
Michael McCarthy.