> However, I do sometimes wish that I could get
> J to represent exact integers with a trailing x.
J's display (textual output) is ambiguous in many ways, this being one of them.
Another provides one of the biggest obstacles to the J novice:
1
1
,1
1
K chooses to display data unambiguously (by always printing the linear
representation). If J followed that model, the above would look like:
1
1
,1
,1
I can't decide if I prefer this or not. It's less ambiguous, but in a way more
confusing. Certainly it's not as pretty, and it would make ad-hoc reporting
more complicated.
Of course, there could be a happy middle ground. Perhaps we could make certain
displays, like extended integers, less ambiguous, while leaving others, like
text-vs-numbers, the way they are now.
Or we could leave the J engine untouched and just customize the front ends,
e.g. to display extended integers with a different background color.
-Dan
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