MK>I think your comment that we have thereby contributed to rotting the 
brains
MK>of generations of APLers is *slightly* over the top :-). 

PG>Conclusion: Even older APL'ers have to understand the influences of the 

PG>implementations they worked on and they should throw all that knowledge 

PG>away because J's implementation makes it really clear that the 
particulars 
PG>of any/all APL interpreters have short-circuit their brain away from 
the 
PG>simplicity of the language.

PG>NB. I am so shocked that I am preparing a white paper on this very 
issue 
PG>for our APL team. The title could be:
PG>"How APL implementations have ruined your pure APL thinking and why J 
can 
PG>restore it..."

Nowhere the word "rotten" can be seen.
The expressions used were:" short-circuit their brain" and "ruined your 
pure APL thinking"

Noting that implementations that are incomplete or not efficient on 
certain constructs have an influence on the way people will use the 
product is not something new strange or "over the top". 

After having fixed code that was written by people not aware of those 
deficiencies for 7 years in order to use better algorithm and meet 
commercial deadlines I gave myself the rigth to making such comment.

MK>Congratulations to Roger on his excellent implementation! If someone 
comes
MK>up with a convincing set of examples to motivate further work on this 
case,
MK>we may change our minds (but please don't use the J forums for this).

A concinving set of examples is a in the eye of the beholder and 
impossible when someone see "rotten" where there is no such word and ask 
to "please don't use the J forums" and uses it. BTW I would concur with 
you on this one and please use my private email for any future comments.

I will simply say that a loosely typed language is bound to lead to plenty 
of "concincing examples" and I will also personally vouch that several 
thousands lines of code were modified to obviate that specific slowness.


Paul Gauthier
APL Software Developer - Senior
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: 312-739-3467
Fax: 312-739-3496

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