Not really: the community of interest only apparently conjoins.
Matrix languages are general purpose.
Spreadsheets were for accounting, specific.
As such, APL was never in the running.
Visicalc did this (before Lotus stole it into 1-2-3) on systems with < 64K:
1) It had the spreadsheet.
2) It had dependency graphs (taking the best of UNIX "make(1)" into its
functions)
3) It avoided language discussion with a text oriented or menu drop down
"point & click" type
of interface (using cell ranges is jus tthat: minimal language, maximal
function).
4) Early on the designers recognized tht _performance_ was an issue, so
they put in the best inbtrnal _coding_ to get the performance up:
minimal memory (RAM), maximal spreadsheet size, maximal performance.
Visicalc blaed for the HW it had.
1-2-3 and Excel do not even get on the playing field.
They get on the _paying_ field.
I am on a laptop with 1GB RAM, 3GHz processor, and it is SLOW.
I am not arguing in FAVOR of interpretd spreadsheets and ad hoc syntax.
I am noting that to make a mrket position in such a specialized niche,
Matrix languages have to offer referential transparency:
(you have to run Excel and 1-2-3 ad OpenOffice spredsheets, at least,
95% of the time)
and offer the underlying power of your language WITH A BACK TRANSLATOR
if you expect to make pay for play inroads.
Alternatively, I would recommend reading "A Prolog Database System", by Deyi
Li (1984).
It has all the notations for referential transparency among all fors of
database languages:
SQL
Natural language
Artificial language (Prolog in this case)
Relational calculus
QBE: query by example
QBF: Query by Form
Graphically oriented QBE
and, most importantly: mix-mastering: using ALL of the above forms in ONE
query.
That is the most importnt part of the book: the specification of interfacers
in such a way as to be able to use them ALL, at ANY time.
If J wants to make spreadsheets look obsolete to _master_ users (not
apprentices)< this should be your goal.
You still will NOT make headway among the vast market: but you MAY
attract enough _experts_
to pull an udertowe about 18 months into it.
BUT: you will have to work at it now; the web community and its inherent
noise level are drowning out the rational voices ongoing.
How many of you een know what an overlay is, or how Visicalc coud get
ANYthing done
in 64KB memory: it is not the memory size, it is the ADDRESS space
size ... (as well as the memory size).
And, here we are, 25 years later, and we still do not have the HW secondary
tier memory architecture peripheral type
to fill the speed gap between main memory speed and hard disk speed: and
please do not tell me the tech ain' there.
It is.
_Inteliigent_ use of _existing_ methods is what is needed; and ongoing with
that, even before that,
braod application ad use of already existng techniques to actually
_solve_problems_ by ordinary users;
the novices, not the experts.
I think this was oe of the reasons Dr. KEI went wth the shift to J/English,
away from APL/rhunes.
Losng the connection to the intended end beneficiary: the ordinary
_mathematics_ student may well be a death knell if J does it.
On 6/10/06, Björn Helgason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have always been a bit surprised how APL lost out to spreadsheets
APL had it al except the presentation part
J has been much better and the Grids are a good step in the right
direction
The spreadsheet wars are hotting up with Google now entering
http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour3.html
--
Björn Helgason, Verkfræðingur
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