Maybe you're thinking of a "quality without a name"? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building .
On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 12:40 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Joe Bogner <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I thought of a weak analogy that helps describe my experience with J so > > far. Writing J is like writing a Haiku. J provides the structure to make > > the poem simple and powerful. I could sit down and write a poem in > > another language (say javascript). Without the structure (forks, trains > of > > evaluation) and vocabulary, it wouldn't have the same "quality"... I > can't > > describe "quality" easily, but I do remember a view of it that made sense > > to me in the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance[3] which I've only > > read about 3/4 of about 5 years ago... > > > > I agree. > > J has its roots in cleanly documenting computer architectures, and perhaps > that is significant here. It's certainly had a huge impact on both the > structure and success of IBM, of Wall Street and of other things (spread > sheets and sql both seem to have Iverson's influence on them, and many of > the really productive programmers I've known have had some APL background). > > From my point of view, it offers considerable structure which isn't > available in other languages. Of course this generic description is not > unique to J, and there are many other languages out there that offer > structure not present in other languages. > > (I went on for paragraphs after this, but I'll cut it back to here.) > > Thanks, > > -- > Raul > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
