Tracy, I especially liked your mention of language style. I'm not sure I would agree that J is what I would call a style language because every language/application has its own style in some sense. I am reminded of a colleague who was teaching dbms II, I believe, and he said he was very proud when a student told him that when he (the instructor) was coding dbms II, he looked like he was playing a video game. I often feel the pleasure in coding J that I am playing a game.
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Tracy Harms <[email protected]> wrote: [snip] > So, yes: I'm with you in not claiming J is easy. What I want to do instead > is emphasize style and challenge. J is what Alan Kay calls a "style > language" (see _A Conversation with Alan Kay_ > http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039523 ) When people ask me whether they > should learn J, my current answer is: Give it a look, paying special > attention to the style of solution that seems to be favored by the nature of > this language. Does that style intrigue you? Might you prefer to deal with > the sort of challenges that come with working in that style, over the very > different challenges that other languages involve? If so, I expect you'll > find J wonderfully exciting. If not, you'll still have gained: Your decision > process will likely leave you with more understanding of J than the vast > majority of programmers. > [snip] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
