Yes, I think that is true. And I don't think the Chinese are ready to abandon symbols for a technically simpler solution requiring more (but simpler) symbols. In Denmark, technical limitations of early printing presses (imported from Germany or the UK) forced us to temporarily abandon the use of æ, ø and å in favour of multi-character sequences ae, oe and aa - but as soon as the technology advanced we reclaimed our extra vowels (except on web addresses :-)).
Interestingly (perhaps), the entry of the Chinese text probably required roughly the same number of keystrokes as the English(?). I think the same comparison holds fairly well if you compare J to APL - because typing APL requires you to use control, alt or altgr combinations, the number of keys touched in order to enter an expression is roughly equivalent in the two languages :-) Having objective arguments about what is easiest to read or the best tool of thought is somewhere between difficult and impossible, even if you are truly bilingual. Nonetheless, we all have strong opinions. -----Original Message----- From: Roger Hui [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 20. december 2007 22:16 To: Chat forum Subject: RE: Subject: Re: [Jchat] J readability >From >http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J%E8%AF%AD%E8%A8%80&variant=zh-hant J，是圖靈獎獲得者肯尼斯·艾佛森和許國華(Roger Hui)於九十年代初發明的一種程式語言，是APL語言 (亦是由艾佛森所創) 、FP、FL函數編程語言的繼承者。 >From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_programming_language The J programming language, developed in the early 1990s by Ken Iverson and Roger Hui, is a synthesis of APL (also by Iverson) and the FP and FL function-level languages created by John Backus. I suppose one billion or so Chinese speakers may agree with the assertion that one symbol = one token is intrinsically more readable. In fact, it is more compact, even more so if you remove the phrase 圖靈獎獲得者 (Turing award winner) from the Chinese which is not in the English. ----- Original Message ----- From: Morten Kromberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, December 20, 2007 11:19 Subject: RE: Subject: Re: [Jchat] J readability To: 'Chat forum' <[email protected]> > In a language where trains of primitives have powerful meanings: > hooks, forks and other tacit constructs - the idea that "one > symbol = one token" is not intrinsically more readable than > variable-length sequences involving punctuation marks, is very > hard for me to get my head round. But I'm happy to admit it > could just be "old APL dog" syndrome. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
