from one Don to another Don When I first started studying J I didn't need adverbs, conjunctions or tacit other than those already in APL. Like you, I didn't see any need of these tools. I got along just fine without them. But I continued to review the dictionary and other documentation, played with them and they gradually made sense. Tacit made no sense at all until I related it to a shortcut I had seen in a math class, then tacit started to make sense.
Same when I first saw APL. I could do everything it could do in FORTRAN or PLI. The only thing I saw at first was that it was interactive. It took a while for me to appreciate the notation. But I have finally learned that my not understanding something does not make it inferior. Neither does failure to understand something make it good. And just because I understand something does not mean others will. So give conjunctions and tacit a little more time. But I do find this debate like Greek philosophers a waste of time. Implement. It would not be hard to write an interpreter for S. Then you would have a way to try it and see how it really works. It would not have to be efficient. You would have something to show to prove your point. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
