Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!ljdickey
From: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey)
Subject: Re: J comment styles
Message-ID: <1991Apr29.152429.15070@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <24APR91.20363659@uc780.umd.edu> <1991Apr25.151215.224@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> <ROCKWELL.91Apr25191520@socrates.socrates.umd.edu>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1991 15:24:29 GMT
Lines: 47

In article <ROCKWELL.91Apr25191520@socrates.socrates.umd.edu> rockwell@socrates.umd.edu (Raul Rockwell) writes:
>
>
>J does not provide an anomalous syntax for comments, but that doesn't
>mean comments need to be cumbersome.

I wish it did.  I like end of line comments, and find something like
this useful:

	C =. ' 0 0 $ 0' :: '.x'

for a comment marker, and works fine for many types of statements, 
for example simple data declarations, like

        data =. 2 3 4                  	C 'here it is'

But for tacit function definition, it just will not work.
I have not been able to find something to put at the end of
a line like this:

		sumover =. +/

I would like to have end of line comments, like this, maybe:

		sumover =. +/		C adds them up.

And I would prefer the above to this:

		sumover =. +/		C 'adds them up.'

I really want the interpreter to ignore everything to the right
of the comment flag.  In line comments, like

	a =. 1 2 3 , }: 'hi there ' {: b =. 4 5 6

in versions 2.9 or earlier, or

	a =. 1 2 3 , [  'hi there' ]  b =. 4 5 6

as in 3.0 are swell, but just don't fill all the needs.


-- 
Prof L.J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, U of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
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