APL characters are really nice to read, for people that are familiar with them. You get a real division symbol for division (not just the visual pun of %). You get a left pointing arrow for assignment (which avoids all sorts of bugs and misconceptions centered around using = for associating names and values).
But there's no standard for *typing* APL characters. So now you have a steeper learning curve for getting people started. Also, you run into issues like this: http://forums.dyalog.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=619 Anyways, if you want APL characters, there are already really good APL implementations out there, with professional support, and the desire and funding to support the hacks and workarounds and education that are needed for APL character support. Why not use them? Thanks, -- Raul On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 2:00 PM, PMA <[email protected]> wrote: > I'd love to hear -- putting aside implementation issues, people's aversion > to the unfamiliar, and what is or isn't ugly -- how the list members would > expect adoption of APL chars to impact (enhance/ruin/...) J. > > > Roger Hui wrote: >> >> I love the APL chars as much as the next guy. Some people would argue >> that >> APL chars are no longer a problem, but recent experience with my Samsung >> tablet indicates otherwise. >> >> >> On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 8:27 AM, Raul Miller<[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Maybe I should be doing this in a different forum? It's hard to >>> anticipate if or where conversation will go. >>> >>> Anyways, http://www.johndcook.com/symbols/2014/02/apl/ reminded me to >>> think about the tradeoffs involved in J's design: >>> >>> thru=: [ + 1 i.@+ -~ >>> 10 thru 20 >>> 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 >>> u: 16b2336 thru 16b237a >>> ⌶⌷⌸⌹⌺⌻⌼⌽⌾⌿⍀⍁⍂⍃⍄⍅⍆⍇⍈⍉⍊⍋⍌⍍⍎⍏⍐⍑⍒⍓⍔⍕⍖⍗⍘⍙⍚⍛⍜⍝⍞⍟⍠⍡⍢⍣⍤⍥⍦⍧⍨⍩⍪⍫⍬⍭⍮⍯⍰⍱⍲⍳⍴⍵⍶⍷⍸⍹⍺ >>> >>> ASCII is horribly ugly, the world still has not caught up to APL's >>> character set. >>> >>> Sometimes, retro is the right choice. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> -- >>> Raul >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
