I find that putting code with lots of explanatory NB.'s and maybe a
how-to paragraph as a noun in a script is essential. This also works
for little code snippets than may prove useful in the future (and
sometimes with variations listed). Examples also help.
This is not only an aid to me, but to others who may use the code. This
came from past APL experience where I would look at something I wrote
and wondered what I did. Starting from scratch is nice but if the hard
work has been done, why do it again
except to improve on the approach?
There are 2 ways:
1)intersperse comments within multiline verbs to help interpretation of
the line
2)provide a noun such as "howN'
and example of this is the following definition from an Essay on Newton
Raphson
where the following is given
N=: 1 : '- u % u d. 1' (which could be given a better name)
this could be followed by a series of NB.'s in the script indicating the usage
NB. (_2+*:)N ^:c]xo solves x^2 =2 using c iterations starting form a guess xo
or with more Nb. for more detail.
Don Kelly
On 15/05/2014 11:36 PM, robert therriault wrote:
Thanks Raul,
I am happy with some of the progress that I am making in my projects (and
occasionally programming as well), but I like the poetry of J and in that way
part of the challenge is placing the context through the examples. Without that
context a poem is just pretty words on a page and a tacit expression without
examples may not even reveal its valence.
I think that there are opportunities in combining good test driven development
with the rapid prototyping abilities of J -- but first I am playing with J Labs
as a medium of expression, education, art etc.
Cheers, bob
ps. I appreciate the support for my work. The fact that I am a terrible
programmer does not keep me from making terrible programs that explore neat
ideas. Life's too short to let a lack of talent hold you back :-)
On May 15, 2014, at 11:10 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote:
I would not knock "starting from scratch" as a bad thing. Arthur Whitney
has been known to do that, for example.
I think it matters more what you are accomplishing and your ability to make
that useful for other people.
Thanks,
--
Raul
On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 2:07 AM, robert therriault <[email protected]>wrote:
I am a terrible programmer, but I have found that including comments that
have examples of what the entity should do, are usually enough for me to
figure out what is going on.
Without that ... I usually start from scratch, as that is faster and less
frustrating.
I really am terrible at programming.
Cheers, bob
On May 15, 2014, at 10:52 PM, 'Bo Jacoby' via Programming <
[email protected]> wrote:
"how does one write understandable J?" One does not write understandable
J! One writes as compactly as possible, and if it needs to be understood
it's parts are investigated piece by piece. Understandability is not a
property of text, but rather a property of relationship between text and
reader. / Bo.
Den 3:51 fredag den 16. maj 2014 skrev Don Guinn <[email protected]>:
What is easy and obvious depends so much on one's background. Several
years
ago we tried to teach a woman, at the time in her 80's, how to use a
Windows computer. Total failure. The real problem was that she could
see no
use in or reason to use a computer. She had no interest in learning it.
Anyone who thinks that today's computer technology is intuitive, obvious
and easy should go to an old folk's home and try to teach them to use a
smart phone. But for a four-year-old. Piece of cake.
On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 6:10 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]>
wrote:
I am convinced that most code is not understandable to most people,
regardless of the language it is written in. When I look at how the
computer industry has progressed, I see this more and more. People
write
huge amounts of code, don't document it very well, then other people
use
arbitrary bits of it and things sort of just freeze at that point.
Personally, also, when I read code in any language, I do not feel I
really
understand it until I see what it does to representative data.
So clear descriptions, simple data, and good labels are where I would
focus
most of my efforts in making code readable. And I would also expect
that
most of my code is going to be unread by most people (and I'll get
dinged
for utterly random stuff by people who do read it).
I think the point of readability is: you are going to need to be able
to
fix it, yourself, when it breaks, so you need to make it readable for
yourself. And for that purpose, coming back and trying to read it a
month
or so after you've written it can be a good exercise.
Also, I've found that documenting code is a great way of making code
simpler. It's quite often the case that it's easier to change the code
to
be easy to document than it is to document some coding quirks that
originally seemed to be a good idea. So if you want readable code,
another
good thing to do is have a technical writer (or at least someone
reasonably
literate) work with the programmer to document it for some audience.
Of course, the most important thing is making sure that it works.
Thanks,
--
Raul
On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 5:23 PM, Kip Murray <[email protected]>
wrote:
How does one write understandable J? I offer my newt adverb below
which
uses spaces to promote understandability.
Another technique might be Linda's "bottom up" style of first showing
pieces then putting the pieces together. What are your techniques?
Please
illustrate.
We would like at least to understand our own code when we come back to
it!
NB. Newton's method
newt =: 1 : 0
t =. y
h =. 1 % 512
whilst. t ~: s do.
s =. t
t =. s - +: h * (u s) % (u s + h) - u s - h
h =. h % 2
end.
t
)
(2 - *:) newt 2 NB. Find root of 2 - *: near 2
1.41421
(2 - *:) newt _2 NB. Find a root near _2
_1.41421
--
Sent from Gmail Mobile
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