On Sun, May 12, 2013 at 2:14 PM, Jose Mario Quintana
<[email protected]> wrote:
> ',{:+ [: {:}:y'(13 : )
> [: , [: {: [: + [: [: [: {: }:
> In the good old days, from my perspective, @: was used instead of [: and
> the whistle-blower would have been as visible in the tacit as it is in the
> explicit expression.
This reasoning sounds tantalizing, but I am uncomfortable with it.
First, [: [: in a tacit expression is "probably a whistleblower"
(which I interpret as: something that matters more immediately than
anything else). Of course, there might be exceptions (: ]) so it's
worth reading more closely. Meanwhile, [: [: [: is almost certainly a
"whistleblower". There could still be exceptions, but they would be
complex to construct. But...
> “Once you found a tacit expression for a block, wouldn't you use it in next
> definition?
>
> ' }. (<:0{x) |. y' (13 :) NB. Finding a tacit form for the for block...
> [: }. ] |.~ [: <: 0 { [“
>
> I read the last line more or less as follows: trigger a domain error, just
> kidding; forget the usual fork interpretation, make the middle verb to act
> monadic-ally on the ending verb; so, drop the... trigger a domain error,
> just kidding; forget the usual fork interpretation, make the middle verb to
> act monadic-ally on the ending verb; so, decrement the first item on the
> left (argument).
While this is a valid reading, I'll note that there can be exceptions
here, also. For example, how do we know whether (-) means "subtract"
or "negate", for example? In the general case we cannot know until we
can see a representative set of examples. Similarly, in the general
case we will not know when the subtraction takes place (or even if it
will take place).
Anyways, I think overall I am sympathetic to your point, but I'm also
just a wee bit uncomfortable with it (and I'm also just a wee bit
uncomfortable with Linda's point).
For me, I mostly think of left-to-right reading as "structural" or
maybe "functional" and right-to-left reading as "procedural" or maybe
"imperative". Both can be valid, except sometimes you need the other.
--
Raul
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