BASIC is the programming language that was popularized when personal computing became common. It and the popular programming languages today are all essentially scalar. They handle one element at a time and use loops to handle arrays. APL, J and a few other languages running around today are array oriented. Loops and so many techniques used to write good programs in scalar languages are for the most part unnecessary in array languages like J. But once one learns the scalar approach to programming these scalar techniques are well entrenched.
Take a person who has never programmed and there is nothing to unlearn. They don't keep looking for all those neat techniques they spent years mastering but are not needed in J. It is difficult to convince a programmer to ignore what he knows and loves. This makes it hard to teach J to programmers. BASIC in this discussion represents all languages which are scalar in their approach to programming. What we think of as the "original" BASIC is the version developed by Apple and other micro computer vendors to fit on a 4K micro computer. Not the real original BASIC developed at Cambridge to run on a mainframe. Many of the popular programming languages are adding array handling, but the array handling is an add-on. It doesn't fit well. The scalar approach is still their primary approach to programming. The library extensions to VB, C, Java etc. are well documented and considered part of the language. One really can't write a decent application in them without extensive use of those library extensions. J is well documented in the J dictionary and vocabulary. One can write decent applications in J without using much from the J library extensions. It is being kind to say that the library extensions for J are poorly documented. But today's applications need graphics, GUI, access to data bases and used on devices only accessible through library extensions. Telling someone to look at the script in the library to find out how to use it won't work. J7 is addressing this change in programming. But the library extensions necessary for J to build an application for what people expect requires extensive use of these library extensions. We need to thoroughly document these extensions and consider them part of the J language. On Sat, Dec 1, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Alex Giannakopoulos < aeg...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: > I am not sure Ian really meant BASIC when he said "people who know BASIC". > Perhaps the gist of what he meant was "people who want to do basic > programming". > > No-one really uses old-style BASIC today, regardless of what marketing > blurbs may say. I have *never* seen anyone recommend it to people who ask > "what language should I start with?" on any programming forum whatsoever. > > .. . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
