Computing Dictionary
postfix notation definition
language (Or "Reverse Polish Notation", RPN) One of the possible orderings of
functions and
operands: in postfix notation the functions are preceded by all their operands. For example, what may normally be written as "1+2" becomes "1 2 +". Postfix notation is well suited for
stack based
architectures but modern
compilers reduced this advantage considerably.
The best-known language with postfix syntax is
FORTH. Some
Hewlett-Packard calculators use it, e.g. HP-25, HP-29C, HP-41C, HP-23SII.
Compare:
infix notation,
prefix notation.
(2003-06-23)
