"Feral" means "having reverted to a wild state". Assembler language is feral. Writing loops is feral. Swinging a club is feral. J is a lightsaber.
Henry Rich On 6/7/2011 9:39 PM, Joey K Tuttle wrote: > I like feral... Certainly if you say, "j is a feral computer language." They > are almost certain to ask what you mean. Some of us can relate to the > implications of "feral" - it does invade one's mind... > > > - joey iPh > > > > On Jun 7, 2011, at 18:23, Henry Rich<[email protected]> wrote: > >> I agree. >> >> It's hard to express in a paragraph how it is that the parts of J work >> together, and how, by letting you think about problems rather than >> implementation, it makes you a better, faster, more elegant programmer. >> A single word is more likely to be misleading than descriptive. >> >> Henry Rich >> >> On 6/7/2011 9:16 PM, Marshall Lochbaum wrote: >>> The problem I see in finding such a word is that it not only has to convey >>> the power of implicit looping and tacit code, but is has to convey the >>> simplicity of J. J's interpreted nature and minimally designed primitives >>> make it much easier to use than other systems with fancier design. Frankly, >>> I'm not sure the English language has enough power to express that in one >>> word. >>> >>> Marshall >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: [email protected] >>> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ric Sherlock >>> Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 8:55 PM >>> To: Programming forum >>> Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] One word description of J >>> >>> Yes certainly in Australasia calling something/someone "feral" is not >>> exactly a compliment! >>> >>> http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-of/feral >>> >>> On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 12:14 PM,<[email protected]> wrote: >>>> I think that the word "feral" has negative and destructive >>>> connotations. Not a word to use if you want to promote the use of J >>>> to a manager. >>>> >>>> Surely we need a word that indicates incredible usefulness or >>>> competence. How about "dextrous" or "omnidextrous". >>>> >>>> Simon >>>> >>>> >>>> Quoting John Baker<[email protected]>: >>>> >>>>> 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 >>>> >>>> >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
