Years of searching through other peoples codes of uncertain workings has made me appreciate search tools and I love to put asserts into the code so I know the values involved at execution time.
Does not matter if it is C code or J and scripts are basically where you find the functions/verbs/names and then pepper the code with asserts and then execute the system. Very often you find that the fault in broken code happens because of wrong operation executed long before the brake occurs but an assert in the right place or all over the place will give you the cause. Searching unknown locales/objects directly is a very difficult and time consuming task and it is good to be able to do so but having that as the only tool is like diving in muddy water. 2011/10/2 Ian Clark <[email protected]> > > the same spirit of decommting workspace in flavor of scripts, that > searching > > names inside scripts is preferable to searching names inside loaded > locales. > > Habits of a lifetime, Bill. APL has induced an occupational deformity > in me. Basically I'd agree with you, as advice to beginners. > > As a callow youth, they taught me to fly planes. Experienced pilots > hated the idea of fly-by-wire. They wanted to know there was a direct > mechanical linkage from the joystick to the control surfaces, even if > (like power steering) it's only there for reassurance and can't > feasibly be used on its own. To me the "workspace" debate in J has > similarities. > > A lot depends on whether you're browsing someone else's code, as you > find it in your system, or writing your own for release. If the > latter, I'd say always work on the script itself. When all else fails, > only then work on what got squirted into memory. > > The fact you don't have a script in APL is not a defence of workspace > technology but a tribute to the stability of the full-screen (del) > editor -- agonisingly evolved over decades. Just think back to APLSV > on the early 3270 screens. > > But I shouldn't go digging up old bones. > > > On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 5:51 AM, bill lam <[email protected]> wrote: > > I didn't know this verb and have never used it before. However I guess, > in > > the same spirit of decommting workspace in flavor of scripts, that > searching > > names inside scripts is preferable to searching names inside loaded > locales. For > > example use FIF to search 'deb' in global names should return the same > (or > > more) definitions as that returing from whs. > > > > That said, I rarely use FIF by now because I seldom use ide either. > > > > ymmv > > > >> To sniff over any new word I've discovered, I make heavy use of my > home-brewed: > >> whs=: (>@whichlocales) ; whichscript > >> > >> used like this: > >> whs'deb' > >> ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┬─┬─┬─┬────┬────┐ > >> │/Applications/j602/system/main/strings.ijs│z│z│j│jfiw│jijs│ > >> └──────────────────────────────────────────┴─┴─┴─┴────┴────┘ > >> > >> ...from which you see "deb" resides all over the place (in identical > >> copies, fortunately :) > >> > >> I find "whs" egregiously useful. Most of the bugs I encounter come > >> from what is [not] loaded, and where it is [from]. > >> > >> The verbs it needs: whichlocales, whichscript, along with: > >> listnameswithprefix (just as useful) can be copied from: > >> http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Phrases/Names . It happens they are > >> *not* part of stdlib. I think they should be. (@Ric; how about it?) > > > > -- > > regards, > > ==================================================== > > GPG key 1024D/4434BAB3 2008-08-24 > > gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 4434BAB3 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Björn Helgason, Verkfræðingur Fornustekkum II 781 Hornafirði, t-póst: [email protected] gsm: +3546985532 twitter: @flugfiskur http://groups.google.com/group/J-Programming Tæknikunnátta höndlar hið flókna, sköpunargáfa er meistari einfaldleikans góður kennari getur stigið á tær án þess að glansinn fari af skónum /|_ .-----------------------------------. ,' .\ / | Með léttri lund verður | ,--' _,' | Dagurinn í dag | / / | Enn betri en gærdagurinn | ( -. | `-----------------------------------' | ) | (\_ _/) (`-. '--.) (='.'=) ♖♘♗♕♔♙ `. )----' (")_(") ☃☠ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
