Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!uunet!wang!wdr From: wdr@wang.com (William Ricker) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Algebra .vs. Adjectives and Adverbs Message-ID: Date: 8 May 91 18:00:51 GMT References: <16281.281f708f@levels.sait.edu.au> Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA Lines: 33 windley@ted.cs.uidaho.edu (Phillip J. Windley) writes: >In article <16281.281f708f@levels.sait.edu.au> xtbjh@levels.sait.edu.au (behoffski) writes: >>...The idea is this: programming languages that were originally derived >> from algebra (Pascal, ADA, C, FORTRAN etc), suffer from algebra's bias >> towards nouns and verbs over adjectives and adverbs. This deficiency >> is especially noticeable when trying to build interfaces between >> system components. ... >Your thesis is intriguing, however, could you give a code segment using >adjectives and adverbs to help those of us with small imaginations. ... Take a look in comp.lang.apl. The new language J, by Iverson Software Inc (yes, that Ken Iverson) has a regularized grammar modeled on Verbs,Nouns, Adverbs/adjectives, Conjunctions -- rather than Functors, Operators, Things. Refernces ACM SigAPL QuoteQuod a/k/a Proceedings APL'90, Iverson & Hui, "APL\?". The recent discussion in c.l.a has focussed on some strange things some users wanted to do (sort each column of an array separately!), which were simple to express in J (although no one understood why he'd want to, thus showing it was not an intended ability), while the latest & greatest traditional APL (IBM APL\2 & the various time-shared APLs) had great difficulty. Disclaimer: I downloaded J from Waterloo, but haven't sent in my share- ware fee yet. If you're budget is better than mine, please be a better citizen! -- /s/ Bill Ricker wdr@wang.wang.com "The Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own one." *** Warning: This account is not authorized to express opinions. ***