I agree with Dan. The conventional sort of notation obfuscates the relation between F0 and Ft, assuming they are intended to be the same length. If they are only coincidentally the same length, perhaps they would be better off boxed.
On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 6:17 PM, Dan Bron <[email protected]> wrote: > Joe Bogner wrote: > > I realize this is a very basic question but was wondering if anyone has > > any conventions or tips that work for them when dealing with subscripts > > and superscripts. > > Compared to most programming languages, J programs do little name > management. > > Instead, we try to manage (anonymous) data flows, pouring information into > verbs and catching it as it comes out the other end. Names are (for the > most part) reserved for higher-order concepts such as verbs, adverbs, and > conjunctions. > > Of course, J is not a pure functional language, so we can and sometimes do > manage state through global named nouns, but to the extent we can minimize > that, we do. > > Fortunately, J is a "think big" kind of language, so we have a number of > tools available to minimize the numbers of names we must manage. In > particular, one common pattern is step back and take as broad a view as > possible, when it comes to data structures. > > Often that means introducing new dimensions to our data structures (so we > can capture as large a regularity, or pattern, as possible). In other > words, I recommend: > > F =: 0.000080 0.000055 0.000185 0.000108 ,: 0.000073 0.000043 0.000150 > 0.000071 > > U =: 0.023 0.192 0.140 0.645 ,: 0.027 0.127 0.197 0.649 > > 0 { F > t { F NB. If t varies, so much the better! > > 0 { u > t { u > > In other words, if your task calls for subscripts, use subscripts! > > -Dan > > PS: For an example of direct transliteration of standard mathematical > notation with sub/superscripts using names instead of indexing, see Tom > Allen's tensor experiments on the J wiki: > > > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/Tensor%20Experiments/TensorExperiments02 > > I'm no physicist, so I'm speaking from ignorance, but my take of these > scripts, on a surface level, is this approach of naming subscripts gets > unwieldy, fast. > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
