Just what JRR Tolkien thought... "I know the plural of 'dwarf' is 'dwarfs', but these are dwarves."
On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 5:34 AM, Roger Hui <[email protected]> wrote: > Ken was well aware of the existing meaning > of "proverb" when he coined the new meaning for > it in J. He was not one to let existing meanings > stand in the way if the new meaning is apt. > e.g. noun, verb, adverb, valence, ambivalence, > locale, inflection, rank, ... > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: PMA <[email protected]> > Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011 18:02 > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] One word description of J > To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > >> This reminds me to ask: When the J term "proverb" was invented >> (derived via grammatical logic from the existing "pronoun"), what >> thought was given to the result's pre-existence in the language >> as meaning something *else*? >> >> P.A. >> >> [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. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
