consignment

n 1: goods carried by a large vehicle [syn: {cargo}, {lading}, {freight},

{load}, {loading}, {payload}, {shipment}]

2: the official act of consigning a person to a prison (or

mental hospital) [syn: {commitment}, {committal}]

3: the delivery of goods for sale or disposal

assignment

Storing the value of an expression in a

{variable}. This is commonly written in the form "v ◦ e". In

{Algol} the assignment operator was ":◦" (pronounced

"becomes") to avoid mathematicians qualms about writing

statements like x ◦ x:1.

Assignment is not allowed in {functional languages}, where an

{identifier} always has the same value.

See also {referential transparency}, {single assignment},

{zero assignment}.

(1996-08-19)