I disagree - just to be devil's advocate here... It's not the function of a single word to express all the nuances of J (or of anything, except in poetry). So complaining that English isn't "powerful" enough to describe J in a single word is as fruitlesss as complaining that J isn't powerful enough to describe English in one word.
The fact that J has subtle and implicit power is a good enough description without having to explain that it uses implicit rather than explicit looping or has tacit code, etc. How about words like: "Expert" "Powerful" "Potent" "Refined" "Effective" "Efficatious" "Sophisticated" "Profound" "Elegant" "Subtle" "Inventive" "Cunning" "Competent" The problem with words like this is that they can apply to lots of things and not uniquely to J. How about made-up words like "Mathemagical"? Simon Quoting Henry Rich <[email protected]>: > 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
