DIETER ENSSLEN wrote:
>  J is challenging in itself. 

I agree that J is challenging to learn.

>  All meaningless symbols.

But I disagree here.  The phrase "meaningless symbol" is an oxymoron:  if a 
symbol doesn't mean anything, it's not a symbol.  And,
of course, all J's symbols mean something ([1]).

The analogy we usually give is to Chinese.  When I look at a Chinese newspaper 
or sign, I certainly can divine no meaning.  So yes,
to me, the symbols are meaningless.  But over a billion people on this planet 
live their whole lives using only Chinese, so
obviously it means something to them.  And maybe that "something" is worth the 
difficult challenge to learn Chinese (which is so
very different from English).  Or maybe not.  Depends on what your goals are.

-Dan

[1]  http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/vocabul.htm



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