I think reverting (to right brain thinking) is a laudable escape from the Von Neumann (left brain) trap of assembler, FORTRAN, et al.
- joey iPh On Jun 7, 2011, at 18:46, Henry Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > "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
