Thanks, Boyko, for coming up with this list. It
would be a great thing if authors could agree on terms,
but each author will have to be convinced of the
advantages.
I advanced 4 new terms in JfC: 'list of' (array whose
items are), 'modifier' (adverb/conjunction),
'entity' (adverb/conjnction/noun/verb), and
'fragment' (executable bident/trident). I
commend them to common use, unless someone comes up
with better.
Concerning the terms you mentioned:
(1) 'derived verb/adverb/conjunction' is not an
obsolete concept. The entity produced by execution
of a modifier is (as I define it) a 'derived entity',
and that can be any part of speech. 2 : '&' is
a conjunction whose result is a conjunction.
(3) I think 'operator' should be taken out of use. Its
meanings in physics and programming are so different
that it cannot be used without misleading someone. I
intended to use it only when talking about C, where
it has a defined meaning. I have just now removed the
other instances.
(4) It would be nice to have a clear definition of 'bident'
and 'trident'. My definition of bident is a 2-word
fragment, and of trident, a 3-word fragment. So,
+ * - 5 + / are all bidents to me, and
2 + 3 3 : 'x + y' {. - }. are all tridents.
I propose to the Standards Committee, when we have one,
that this be the accepted definition.
I also think the phrase 'boxed list' should be reserved
for <1 2 3 and not applied to 1;2;3 . Looking, I
found several cases where I didn't follow my own rule on
this.
Henry Rich
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Boyko Bantchev
> Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 2:51 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Jgeneral] word-chasing in the docs
>
> I spent some time of the weekend chasing the
> definitions of certain terms in the documentation
> that comes with the J distribution. Here are some
> observations from my reading that I would like to
> share. My attention was concentrated on the
> Dictionary, the two books `Learning J' and `J for
> C programmers', and the integrated Index. In the
> following, I will refer to them as D, LJ, JfC, and
> X, respectively.
>
> (1)
> In D (§ E. Parsing and Execution) the word
> `conjunctions' in the sentence `Certain trains
> form verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions, as
> described in § F.' is perhaps a remnant of the
> pre-5.01 versions of J, or I must have
> misunderstood something.
>
> Same for JfC (Parsing and Execution II), which
> talks of `derived verb/adverb/conjunction'.
>
> (2)
> FUNCTION has its general (mathematical) meaning
> in D and also sometimes denotes a verb. It means
> either of a verb, an adverb, or a conjunction in
> LJ, and an user-defined verb in JfC.
>
> (3)
> OPERATOR. In D, this word is used exactly once
> (apparently designating an adverb or a conjunction)
> but without defining it. In LJ, it means an adverb
> or a conjunction, and in JfC -- a primitive verb.
>
> (4)
> BIDENT. In D, the word is only used once: to name
> row 6 of the grammar table (E. Parsing and Execution).
> Not used anywhere else.
>
> Similarly for TRIDENT, which names row 5, but is
> also mentioned in one more place (Introduction:
> 4. Punctuation).
>
> LJ uses BIDENT and TRIDENT consistently with D.
> JfC also sticks to consistent meaning for TRIDENT,
> but not for BIDENT (which is used also to denote
> a hook).
>
> (5)
> PRO-ADVERB and PRO-CONJUNCTION are mentioned only
> once in the D. (where f. is defined). In fact,
> this is the sole mentioning of these words in the
> whole help directory (including there are no entries
> in X).
> The definition of these two terms in D is indirect
> (and perhaps somewhat vague).
>
> `PROVERB' and PRONOUN appear several times in D
> but are not used elsewhere.
>
> (6)
> CELL, FRAME, SHAPE, ITEM (MAJOR CELL) are not
> represented in X.
>
> (7)
> ADVERB is not represented in X (although there is
> an entry ADVERBIAL).
>
> (8)
> CONJUNCTION can be found in X, but there is no
> link to D from there (as a matter of fact, there
> is no link to anywhere at all).
>
> Strangely, there is an entry CONJ in X, with many
> links to the documentation, two of which point to
> places in D, but not where the term Conjunction is
> defined.
>
>
> The above observations prompted the following
> suggestions to my mind.
>
> 1. Perhaps some terms should be dropped for not
> being needed/used/liked by J authors and/or by
> the J community.
>
> 2. Other terms' definitions should be properly linked
> to from the Index.
>
> 3. The Dictionary will be more helpful to its users
> if it has its own Index (besides the general one)
> and a Compendium of important terms.
> I find the `Collected Terminology' of LJ very
> helpful, but D needs its own one: a systematic
> layout of the important terms used in J is no
> less needed than the Vocabulary of built-in
> definitions. A rich, carefully designed Index
> will additionally improve the accessibility of
> definitions and examples in the Dictionary.
>
> 4. Where there are different uses of important terms
> in the different parts of the J help system, the
> reader should be warned somehow (perhaps a note
> in the terminilogy compendium proposed above will
> suffice).
>
> 5. It would be very useful to have PDFs for the
> Dictionary (and possibly other important documents
> provided by JSoftware) -- like it used to be --
> so that one can search for keywords within them.
> (I presently am grepping over the relevant help
> directory to achieve a similar effect, but that
> is not as convenient as searching in a PDF file.)
> Alternatively, there may be a help-searching
> utility included in the J distribution.
>
> Regards,
> Boyko
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
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