Though it was not a serious suggestion, atom may be thought of as "degenerate", as compared to arrays of positive rank, in a few senses: it has an empty shape, it is not a list and thus can be thought of either having no items or being its own item, etc.
As a result it needs special treatment in operations like # Tally and / Insert, etc. To answer Henry's question, I believe that requirement of having arrays of positive rank is so rare and the distinction is so important that it is worth to spell it out every time it is used. A new word would require a separate definition, reference to and awareness of it that it will make things even more complicated. E.g. composite may suggest non-boxed, non-degenerate or proper may suggest non-empty, etc. --- Raul Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 4/4/07, Roger Hui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In what ways are atoms degenerate or improper? > > I introduced the term "degenerate array" into this discussion > to treat the case where array rank was less than verb rank. > I should probably have been more careful and described that > as degenerate treatment of rank. > > Then again, in that context, arrays of arbitrary rank could be > thought of as "degenerate" -- that wasn't a quality I specifically > applied to atoms. --- Henry Rich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So, the question is, how often do you need to say > > "all arrays other than atoms"? My guess is, not > > very often. Less often in J than in APL with > > the concept of prefix agreement in J. > > Not often, I agree. But I have a few phrases that I > think every J programmer would do well to commit to > memory, and one of those is > > An array is a list of its items. > > which unfortunately isn't true of an atom. So now > I have to water down the phrase. Ecch. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
