On Sat, 08 Aug 2009, Sherlock Ric wrote: > > From: Raul Miller > > > > If it matters, the "official" definition of tacit:seems to be: > > > > http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/intro.htm > > > > "...functional or tacit programming that requires no explicit > > mention of the arguments of a function (program) being > > defined, and the use of assignment to assign names to > > functions..." > > > > The dictionary also mentions that 13 : may be used to create > > tacit verbs. > > > > (Essays can provide very good and useful material but usually > > the dictionary will trump them.) > > > > [That said, bill lam has already answered and explained what > > he really means, and my post, here, was inspired by some > > points raised in past threads.] > > After reading Bill's post I found myself grappling in my own mind with what > was a tacit expression and what wasn't, which was why I started/renamed this > thread. I think Dan's post does a pretty good job of describing sorts of > ideas I was/am trying to reconcile. The dictionary description (I'm not sure > if it is really a definition?) didn't really clear things up for me. > > If I write a "top level sentence" in the session manager > +/ 4 5 6 > Is it tacit or explicit? Is my sentence a) defining a function, b) executing > a function, or c) both? > I'm thinking c), and given that the arguments are given but not explicitly > referred to, I'd also suggest that this is a tacit expression? > > What about: > +/ *: 4 5 6 > How is this described? Is a function being defined? (maybe, but I'm not > sure!) If so, there doesn't seem to be any explicit reference to the > arguments - so is it therefore tacit? >
I'll take Raul's quotation to be official. It refers to a style of programming by defining a series of names with other names without explicit arguments in its reasoning. take the example of standard deviation (not sure correct or not). sum=: +/ mean=: sum % # deviation=: sum - mean meansquare=: *:@deviation % # stddev=: %:@meansquare certainly it is not about mechanically replacing x or y with [ and ] because x or y never appeared in the first place. -- regards, ==================================================== GPG key 1024D/4434BAB3 2008-08-24 gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 4434BAB3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
