…Well done, Devon.
Here's my set of 1-liner-plus-a-comment answers to J7Q.
But I guess if I sat down tomorrow I'd come up with a fresh set.
*1. How similar are both APL and J?*
+/ 1 2 3 , (-4), 5.01
NB. once you get past that: …not very.
*2. To the best of my recollection APL could be written with EBCDIC so why
J?*
A{gets}{hi-minus}1+{iota}{rho}{omega} {lamp}a popular APL convention.
NB. Ken scratched his chin and wondered if he could do better.
*3. Can APL do everything J can do and visa versa?*
http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/APL2JPhraseBook
NB. yes-but… J-to-APL typically needs tremendous ingenuity plus lots of
repetitive code.
*4. Can APL and J be forced to be strongly typed?*
No. Not even if you waterboard them.
NB. but "objects" built using APL or J (see below) can happily validate
incoming data.
*5. Are APL and J capable of being Object-Oriented like C++ or C#?*
http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Vocabulary/Locales#How_to_work_with_locales_and_locatives
NB. "Object-", Jane, but not "-Oriented" as we know it.
*6. Would one view J as a superset of APL?*
J is an "extended subset" of APL.
NB. …a tiny subset, vastly extended (…see 1 above).
*7. Are J and APL more than niche languages?*
Both J and APL flourish in their niches – their many varied niches.
NB. Apart from one-size-fits-all kluges like VB, over-promoted by its
single vendor (Microsoft), aren't all languages "niche languages"?
Ian Clark
On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 6:55 AM, Devon McCormick <[email protected]> wrote:
> I only just read Ian's challenge after I made my post but - challenge
> accepted!
>
> On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 1:35 AM, Devon McCormick <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > How similar are both APL and J?
> > - Compared to almost every other computer language, they are nearly
> > identical.
> >
> > To the best of my recollection APL could be written with EBCDIC so why J?
> > - EBCDIC, to the best of my recollection, supported extended character
> > sets, sometimes through the use of "code pages". This severe limitation
> of
> > character representation, since solved say some, was seen by Iverson and
> > others as enough of a reason to try again with a purely ASCII character
> set.
> >
> > Can APL do everything J can do and visa versa?
> > - Insofar as both are Turing-complete, of course. (I'm sure others could
> > elaborate on this)
> >
> > Can APL and J be forced to be strongly typed?
> > - Why would you want to do that? But, yeah, sure - J is open-source as
> > are some APLs, so you could implement that any way you see fit.
> >
> > Are APL and J capable of being Object Oriented like C++ or C#?
> > - If you want to emulate that style, you could do it but, again, why?
> >
> > Would one view J as a superset of APL?
> > - I think it was intended to be something like that but APL has evolved
> > independently at the same time so it's less clear now.
> >
> > Are J and APL more than niche languages?
> > - I hope not for the sake of everything rational.
> >
> > On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 11:27 PM, jane dalley <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> This is my first post; my hope is this is an appropriate question.
> >>
> >> My knowledge of APL and J is very limited so my expectation is a simple
> >> answer that is within my limited ability to grasp.
> >>
> >> Examples:
> >>
> >> How similar are both APL and J?
> >>
> >> To the best of my recollection APL could be written with EBCDIC so why
> J?
> >>
> >> Can APL do everything J can do and visa versa?
> >>
> >> Can APL and J be forced to be strongly typed?
> >>
> >> Are APL and J capable of being Object Oriented like C++ or C#?
> >>
> >> Would one view J as a superset of APL?
> >>
> >> Are J and APL more than niche languages?
> >>
> >> Sorry if any of these questions are perceived to be offensive, probably
> >> they have been asked many times before.
> >>
> >> Sorry also if these questions are deemed silly such as a toddler might
> >> ask.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Jane the novice of J
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Devon McCormick, CFA
> >
> > Quantitative Consultant
> >
> >
>
>
> --
>
> Devon McCormick, CFA
>
> Quantitative Consultant
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
