Thanks Tracy, I do use the left right reading with conjunctions, but for some reason (possibly because of the single argument), I hadn't been reading adverbs that way. It is a great tip and I really appreciate you passing it along. It also gives another way to understand a J sentence correctly without explicitly invoking the explanation of the parser, although the parsing rules are the reason that adverbs and conjunctions have the long left scope.
Cheers, bob On 2010-11-22, at 11:41 AM, Tracy Harms wrote: > On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 2:12 PM, bob therriault <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Wheww, >> >> I thought I was really missing some fundamental point on that one! Of >> course, adverbs are usually used to modify verbs rather than nouns. >> >> Further, could you clarify the your understanding of 'u/~' for me? I tend >> to look at it as a) adverb '~' modifying adverb '/' which modifies verb 'u', >> but perhaps I should look at it as b) adverb '/' modifying the verb 'u' >> which produces a verb modified by adverb '~'. I had thought that the >> Hook/Adverb rule of the parser indicated a), but looking closer I think that >> b) may be correct. >> > > The second method is correct. > > A great simplifier, for me, was learning to read all operators (adverbs and > conjunctions) in a left-to-right manner "before" reading the wider > right-to-left precedence (of either verb trains or noun-resolving > sentences.) This higher-precedence left-to-right technique typically leaves > me with nothing in mind but verbs and nouns, at which point parsing seems > much simpler than when I have unresolved operators in question. > > The way operators are resolved in the opposite direction to verbs makes for > one of the great elegances in J, particularly contributing to why > parentheses occur rather infrequently. My mental experience of reading J has > a corresponding swing-like cadence. I'd wager that helping others resolve > operators first, left-to-right, will be a significant aid to their learning > J. > > -- > Tracy > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
