Food for thought (this would be a breaking change in J if fully implemented)
In addition to the local/global distinction for names (where we currently get a domain error if we try and update a global name when we have a local value for that name), another distinction is the "first time" vs. "update" mechanism. In most (but not all) contexts, we want to do one or the other, but not both. If this aspect of the intention of the programmer could be made visible, that might be helpful for readers. The potential breaking change is that if we wanted to encourage this kind of presentation (and the associated potential for catching bugs), the more generic copula (first time and update) would be longer than the more specific copula (first time, or update). That said, when combined with the local/global distinction, this would wind up being a lot of copulas (six). -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
