From: already5chosen@yahoo.com   
      
   On Sat, 08 Nov 2025 18:13:59 GMT   
   MitchAlsup  wrote:   
      
   > EricP  posted:   
   >   
   > > Anton Ertl wrote:   
   > > > Stephen Fuld  writes:   
   > > >> No, and I defer to you, or others here, on how these features   
   > > >> are implemented, specifically whether code modification is   
   > > >> required.  I was referring to features such as assigned goto in   
   > > >> Fortran, and Alter goto in Cobol.   
   > > >   
   > > > On modern architectures higher-order functions are implemented   
   > > > with indirect branches or indirect calls (depending on whether   
   > > > it's a tail-call or not); likewise for method dispatch.   
   > > >   
   > > > I do not know how Lisp, FORTRAN, Algol 60 and other early   
   > > > languages with higher-order functions were implemented on   
   > > > architectures that do not have indirect branches; but if the   
   > > > assigned goto was implemented with self-modifying code, the call   
   > > > to a function in a variable was probably implemented like that,   
   > > > too.   
   > >   
   > > What architecture cannot do an indirect branch, which I assume   
   > > means a branch/jump to a variable location in a register?   
   >   
   > PDP-8,   
      
   PDP-8 has inderect jump through address stored in memory.   
   It also counts.   
      
   > 4004,   
      
   Are you sure?   
   http://www.e4004.szyc.org/iset.html   
      
      
   > IBM 650,   
      
   Sounds like that.   
   It seems that earlier, but more expensive, IBM 702 already had indirect   
   jumps through content of word in memory.   
      
      
   > ... And any machine without "registers".   
   >   
      
   Not necessarily.   
   Indirect jump through word in memory also counts.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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