Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv1!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!jtsv16!itcyyz!yrloc!hui
From: hui@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Roger Hui)
Subject: Spelling
Message-ID: <1992Feb15.080210.282@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM>
Organization: Iverson Software Inc.
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 08:02:10 GMT

J. Patrick Harrington writes:
>     I have downloaded "J" and played a bit with it, but I find
> the ASCII symbols very unattractive. Is there any chance for a
> version of J based on the old APL characters ?  Or am I the only
> one that finds the aesthetics of the characters important ?
 
Raul Rockwell writes:
> Sure, it's possible.  The source code for J is available, and you can
> write your own front end for it, if you wish.  Of course, you'd have
> to figure out what characters to use for some of the new J stuff.  And
> you'd have to muck around with the nitty gritty details of input and
> display of APL symbols.
 
Raul Rockwell is correct.  There is nothing in principle to prevent a
version of J using the APL special symbols.  However, in such a project,
_by far_ the more difficult problem is the design -- which symbols to
assign to what primitive, what to do about the "extra" primitives, etc.;
the implementation would be trivial by comparison.
 
The J spelling scheme is more mnemonic than the APL spelling scheme.
I urge you to study Language Summary on the back of the dictionary,
which presents the spelling scheme in its entirety.  There are many
symmetries -- across the rows, down the columns, etc. -- and other
subtle aids in mnemonics.  In proposing an alternative, it is no good
to suggest a symbol here and another one there; judgments can be made on
the relative merits of alternative proposals only if they are _complete_.
 
Given that the J spelling scheme retains or surpasses the mnemonics
of the APL scheme and is as economic in keystrokes, how much would
one be willing to pay for the _apparent_ aesthetics of the symbols?
Eschewing special symbols makes the problems of special keyboards,
special displays, special printers, special text editors, etc. go away.

------------------------------------
Roger Hui, Iverson Software Inc., 33 Major Street, Toronto, Ontario  M5S 2K9
Phone: (416) 925 6096;  Fax: (416) 488 7559
