>From the Dictionary II.A. Nouns, "The atoms of any array must belong to a >single class: numeric, literal, symbol, or boxed."
How about saying the type of a noun is numeric, literal, symbol, or boxed. Leave it at that. Sent from my iPad On Apr 23, 2012, at 8:24 AM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > "Type" has been an ill-defined term in the context of J. > > But it's a popular word, for describing some aspects of computer > programs, and a short word. So it probably deserves some use. > > And, I think, in the context of J, it should signify a thing that can > go inside parenthesis. That concept needs a name, and I think "type" > fits it rather well. > > Thus, we have system types: (1)(+)(1) > > We have named types: (smoutput)(ARGV) > > We have anonymous types: (+/%#) (i.9) > > We have types of nouns, types of verbs and so on. > > We have numeric types, textual types, list types (and these can > overlap), and so on. > > etc. > > Now, one thing that this loses is the idea of a type as a > collection... or does it? (1 2 3 4) > > No, what this loses is the idea of a type as a representation of > possibilities... or does it? ? bind 100 > > No, what this loses is the idea of a type as a storage format. But > when I have proposed the idea that "type" represents a storage format, > I have been told that that's silly, by people who would be in a > position to know. > > Another concept of a type is that it represents a "domain", but that > has a similar lack of acceptance from people that deal with types on a > regular basis. > > Anyways, if my proposal here has any flaws, I think it's that this > definition of "type" might be too restrictive for some people. But I > think that that is ok -- you can use another language if you want to > use a different concept of type. > > Comments? > > Thanks, > > -- > Raul > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
