embrace=: [: ;@:(('{',":,'}'"_)&.>)L:1`":@.(0=L.)^:_ <"1^:(0<[EMAIL
PROTECTED])^:_
embrace 5
5
embrace ,5
{5}
embrace ,.2 3 4
{{2}{3}{4}}
embrace ,:2 3 4
{{2 3 4}}
(":@$ , ' $ ' , embrace) i.1 1 1 5
1 1 1 5 $ {{{{0 1 2 3 4}}}}
(":@$ , ' $ ' , embrace) i.1 1 2 5
1 1 2 5 $ {{{{0 1 2 3 4}{5 6 7 8 9}}}}
----- Original Message ----
> From: Henry Rich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> Ric speaks for me here.
>
> I add that most early students don't imagine that
>
> 5
>
> can anything but an atom or
>
> 1 2 3
>
> anything but a list. So they never think to ask.
> When they pick up the language by using it, as we do in
> my beginners class, they easily jump to conclusions.
>
> Henry Rich
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sherlock, Ric
> > Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 4:11 PM
> > To: Programming forum
> > Subject: RE: [Jprogramming] Difference between 5^100x and x: 5^100
> >
> > ---Randy MacDonald wrote:
> > > (I'll leave the irony of non-programmers thinking they can
> > > get a handle on a programming language aside.)
> >
> > Surely programmers have to come from somewhere?!
> >
> > > How do they explain their confusion, if not as a sign they could use
> > > some tools to look deeper?
> > >
> > > I also am thinking that $x is too basic and too important a
> > > concept that really shouldn't wait for spontaneous discovery.
> > > 'What is its shape?' seems like something an instructor would
> > > use to cue students.
> >
> > I'm sure any J/APL course would deal with the concept of
> > shape/rank explicitly, however that doesn't mean the student
> > will immediately recognise from then on when to expect a list
> > vs a single row table. If display colour of an array in the
> > session could be configured based on its rank, I think that
> > would be a nice visual clue to remind the student (or even
> > programmer!) that a result may not be what they expected. I
> > imagine it may well circumvent a good deal of frustration at times.
> >
> > As for "where does it end?", given that this would be
> > user-configurable (exactly as it is currently
> > user-configurable to show verbs vs nouns vs adverbs in a
> > different colour), you can decide yourself where it ends.
> >
> > > Henry Rich wrote:
> > > > These are non-programmers who have no idea that they need
> > > > to dissect anything. Getting $x to occur to the average student
> > > > would be far too much to hope for.
> > > >
> > > > Let the user specify as many colors as he cares to. As many
> > > > different ranks can be distinguished as her heart desires.
> > > >
> > > > No way to tell the rank of an empty, but the rest is worth doing.
> > > >
> > > >---Randy MacDonald wrote:
> > > >> An interesting idea, but where does it end? Do we need to
> > > >> immediately
> > > >> see the difference between, for example, i. 2 2 and i. 1 1 1
> > > >> 2 2 which
> > > >> both have the same display value. Is $x too much of a bother for
> > > >> students who need to dissect a value? I sure hope not.
> > > >>
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > For information about J forums see
> > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
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