Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!torn!utcsri!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!Sirius.dfn.de!tubsibr!infbssys!neitzel
From: neitzel@ips.cs.tu-bs.de (Martin Neitzel)
Subject: Re: J Docs are good!  Ideas about windowing...
Message-ID: <1992Oct17.150004.8173@ips.cs.tu-bs.de>
Sender: neitzel@ips.cs.tu-bs.de (Martin Neitzel)
Organization: Inst. f. Informatik, TU Braunschweig, FRG
References: <71520@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 15:00:04 GMT
Lines: 15

About J & "windowing interfaces":  I suggest to keep the window stuff out
of the language proper.  You can easily drive an external PostScript or
Tcl or gnuplot or NeWS or what's-your-fav-now interpreter from a J program.

Just as an incorporated window interface might attract some new users to J,
it would make J look outdated as soon as the currently used window technology
gets replaced by the next one.

I admit that J could offer some more support for simple cooperation with
external processes.  ("True" pipes would be nice, non-atomic ipc too.
However, I'm aware that these features, even if simple and elegant designed
and integrated into the language, might be nasty warts to an otherwise
quite clean functional language.)

Martin Neitzel
