Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!Edward_M_Cherlin
From: Edward_M_Cherlin@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Subject: Re: mixing it up: The role of fractional axis brackets
Message-ID: <42021@cup.portal.com>
Date: 5 May 91 20:35:22 GMT
References: <1991Apr29.142754.17015@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 11

To me, the real problem with anomalous APL constructs is that they are
not functional. This means that they cannot be used in operator
expressions, in particular, and suffer from all of the deficiencies that
functional programming is intended to remedy, in general. See my 
forthcoming paper, "Pure Functions in APL and J", APL91 conference,
Stanford, Aug. 1991, and my articles in recent issues of APL News on
J.

I include brackets (axis, subscript), diamond, and QuadFX as anomalies,
following Iverson. These are the features he felt most needed fixing, and
he has fixed them in J.