As far as I can tell from common usage, what most coders mean by "operator" are the things that are represented by symbols. So, "+" and "*" are operators but something called "plus" or "times" would be a function, even if these latter were exactly substitutable for the former. Of course, this usage is loose and not particularly illuminating.
On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > (moved to chat from general) > > I think that this definition sounds like it is meant to characterize > "c-like" (or "algol-like") languages, which J probably is not. So any > interpretation would probably be only weakly relevant. > > That said, note that we have a number of interpretations open to us, > since "function" gets such broad use in the dictionary, including > examples such as: > x&o. > + > [ , '-'"_ , ] > ^: > _: > and ^: for example has different syntax from the others. > > Still, we can represent functions as nouns in J (gerunds and lookup > tables being two examples of this concept) and their use has different > syntax from verbs, adverbs or conjunctions. > > So, if we took the wikipedia definition literally, we could claim that > functions represented as nouns are J's "operators". > > This probably would not correspond to the intent of the authors of > that wikipedia definition > (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_(programming)), but if we find > any contexts where that is a significant issue, it might mean that the > wikipedia definition is wrong in that context. > > -- > Raul > > On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Tracy Harms <[email protected]> wrote: >> The Wikipedia entry on this topic says operators are "operations which >> differ in the calling of syntax and/or the argument passing mode from the >> language's functions." Since there is no such special syntax in J, my >> interpretation is that there are no operators in J. >> >> Tracy >> >> On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:42 AM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> If we do not know what an operator is, how can we know whether or not >>> J has them? >>> >>> -- >>> Raul >>> >>> On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Tracy Harms <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > My understanding is that J has no "operators" in the usual sense. The >>> term >>> > "operation" seems reasonable to encompass copula, verbs, adverbs, and >>> > conjunctions. >>> > On Sep 11, 2012 1:52 PM, "Don Guinn" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > >>> >> Be careful how you define operators too. + and - are commonly called >>> >> operators. >>> >> >>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm -- Devon McCormick, CFA ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
