Björn - Thanks for the ideas. I like the idea of fst or having a standard symbol / character for it.
R.E. Boss - Using the _ for subscript will come in handy if I am posting code somewhere that automatically converts to LaTex like stackoverflow. Dan - I appreciate the alternate thinking. I didn't even consider subscript as a 1-cell of an array. I also assumed it's best to mimic the notation in the paper, but I can see the advantages of deviating. I think I'll start with staying close to the paper and then refactor to improve it once I'm comfortable I've implemented it correctly. Thanks Joe 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 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
