> By the way, the mention of Edsgar Dijkstra in > connection with J/APL is rather ironic. He was > a rabid opponent of APL and I was told that he > was heard at in international conference that > APL would never be used in Holland while he was > around to stop it.
I read the last bit in a paper by Alan Perlis. As I remember it, Dijkstra, Perlis, and xyz sat side-by-side during a presentation by Ken Iverson. (Possibly http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/FPL.htm .) At one point Dijkstra reached over and said to xyz, while I am around APL would never be used in Holland, whence xyz responded that while _he_ was around APL would never be used in country abc. (I can not remember xyz and abc.) ----- Original Message ----- From: neville holmes <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010 15:52 Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] index origin 0 To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > I haven't done any serious programming since before > "software engineering" started promoting programmers > in their own eyes, and I've never been a professional > mathematician. Do I qualify ? > > In any case I would make two comments. > > I taught J for a decade or more and can't recall any > problems with fixed origin 0 either in teaching or > in student project work. On the contrary, I recall > several instances of students exclaiming at how > natural/useful/surprising it was. > > Index origin 1 was responsible for world-wide > celebration of the turn of the millennium one year > early, which rather spoilt it for those of a numeric > bent. > > By the way, the mention of Edsgar Dijkstra in > connection with J/APL is rather ironic. He was > a rabid opponent of APL and I was told that he > was heard at in international conference that > APL would never be used in Holland while he was > around to stop it. > > Neville Holmes, P.O. Box 2412, Bakery Hill 3354, Victoria ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
