I've been thinking about what's a good single word description of J. Something that suggests the important features of the language and conveys the spirit of J programming. I offer the word: feral. Here's a footnote I recently added to the upcoming JOD 0.9.3 documentation.
Coming up with an accurate description of J is a challenge. The language is definitely array oriented and contains an almost pure functional tacit sub-language. However J also contains substantial imperative features and its clever use of locales and locale paths simulates most of the useful features of object oriented languages. Waving your hands and declaring a language multi-paradigm or agile is the standard way out but unfortunately this does not distinguish J. I think J is a *feral* programming language. The word feral sounds like a mixture of functional and imperative and the established meaning of feral: almost wild, wilily, able to survive on your own but willing to cooperate – on your own terms - conveys the independent free thinking character of J programmers. -- John D. Baker [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
