The choice of a fixed value for index origin in general and 0 in particular have made a slight majority of problems easier to code in J compared to APL (where I did most problem solving prior to J). I remember writing []io-independent APL either by localising []io or by using []io in the relevant expressions, but it never became a habit and most of my APL-solutions were not []io-independent.
I consider the present solution in J to be superior. I am a graduate of Stockholm School of Ecomomics and used APL/J for financial problems: bond calculations, options valutation and trading ( http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=55626.55657) Full disclosure: I worked briefly at I.P. Sharp Associates in 1983. /Pablo Landherr On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Roger Hui <[email protected]> wrote: > I have been asked by some APL colleagues about > index origin 0 in J. The question is, does the choice > of a fixed value of 0 for index origin a hindrance to > your work? The question is specifically addressed > to "ordinary domain experts", people with no > software engineering in their background and are not > professional mathematicians. > > In case you did not know, in APL there is a choice > known as the index origin, controlled by the variable > quad-io, of counting from 1 instead of from 0, affecting > the left argument of { and the result of i. , among other things. > I will say no more than this to avoid biasing your answers. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
