Comments inline ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Burke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General forum" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 8:58 PM Subject: Re: [Jgeneral] Lack of software abstractions
> Joe Tibollo wrote: > > Also, a question for Chris - I know that APL workspaces store the binary > > representations of the functions and variables to disk. However, why > > can't we have our scripts and eat it too (sort of)? Why can't we store > > the textual form of all the functions and variables (similar to the > > solutions provided by Dan and Roger)? I haven't had a chance to > > completely test out the solutions for saving and storing that have been > > provided, but assuming they work, why not build that in to J. This does > > not mean eliminating the loading of scripts - just something more. > > Wouldn't it be nice to be able to load text scripts as you need them > > (with all the advantages that has) and then when the workspace is > > working the way you want - simply press a button or type save and your > > work is preserved. No problem distributing your work. Whey does it > > have to be 100% either way? Wouldn't that make the J environment more > > productive? It would for me... > > You could indeed save your work as big blobs of text in 5!:5 format as > Dan and Roger point out, but this has most of the disadvantages of the > stored APL workspace, and none of the advantages of scripts. By all > means try it, but I think you will find it inconvenient. Adding a structure, perhaps an XML structure, around all those 5!:5's would mitigate a lot of problems. That being said, I myself would prefer a more tractable structure than the aforementioned save/load verbs. An object file system perhaps. > For example: > > How could you browse through it? You would have to load it in, then > browse through what has appeared in the session. This is not as > convenient as looking through source scripts. > > How do you update a definition? You would have to load it in, display > the definition in the session, cut and paste the definition to a script > window, edit the script window, load it back into the session and then > save it (if you remember to save it). > > How do you update a definition that appears in several source files? ...a problem that saved workspaces seriously do not solve either. > What about search and replace? I do this all the time with scripts, but > would be very hesitant on a big blob of 5!:5 text. > > How well do these blobs work with standard source code managers? The decision to roll-ones-own makes such considerations moot, of course. > How do you control what gets saved (the dustbin problem)? Something more than load/save. Saw the need for more control long ago. >Remember that > the J IDE has a ton of definitions that are inappropriate for an > application. For example, if your app is a normal GUI, you don't want to > save all the J code that supports the development session. > > Your point about having large numbers of definitions makes the script > approach even more attractive. You can have as many scripts as you like, > organized in directories, each with a manageable number of definitions. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |\/| Randy A MacDonald | APL: If you can say it, it's done.. (ram) |/\| [EMAIL PROTECTED] | |\ | | The only real problem with APL is that BSc(Math) UNBF'83 | it is "still ahead of its time." Sapere Aude | - Morten Kromberg Natural Born APL'er | Demo website: http://156.34.66.254/ -----------------------------------------------------(INTP)----{ gnat }- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
