You're right about the term "thunk", and that it was first used in the call-by-name context, but
FORTRAN was always call-by-reference, call-by-name was one of the ALGOL call mechanisms (the other one was call-by-value) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunk_%28compatibility_mapping%29 Kind regards Bernd Am 24.04.2014 23:36, schrieb Ted MacNEIL:
Early compiler writers used the term for languages that used 'call by name' sub-routines (such as FORTRAN) when something like an expression was passed. A 'thunking' routine was built by the compiler to evaluate the expression and pass a variable to the actual called sub-routine. I don't know why it's called 'thunking', but it's not a derogatory term. - -teD -
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