A function that retrieves an APL object from a file if necessary, allows editing of an that object, and stores it back to that file if changes have been made also saves a lot of time. I've used such a utility in APL since '86. Having a way to store J objects, verbs more precisely, would make this a trivial addition to J.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ |\/| Randy A MacDonald | APL: If you can say it, it's done.. (ram) |/\| [EMAIL PROTECTED] | |\ | | The only real problem with APL is that BSc(Math) UNBF'83 | it is "still ahead of its time." Sapere Aude | - Morten Kromberg Natural Born APL'er | Demo website: http://156.34.66.254/ -----------------------------------------------------(INTP)----{ gnat }- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Tibollo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General forum" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 12:50 PM Subject: RE: [Jgeneral] Lack of software abstractions One good thing about the APL workspace, it is an incredible time saver. Nothing like editing functions in a workspace and then simply typing in )SAVE and everything (functions and data) can be loaded again exactly where you left off. Having to organize the loading of scripts can be considerably more work. /Joe -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Devon McCormick Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:15 PM To: General forum Subject: Re: [Jgeneral] Lack of software abstractions The code in "WS.ijs" - the name of which comes from the APL "WorkSpace" - could easily be enhanced to save all code as well as all variables. See http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Scripts/File_J_Variables for an explanation of this code. I haven't added this feature because it hardly seems necessary as I'm loading my functions from scripts which is also where I change them. Also, I agree with Randy about the accumulated junk problem. In fact, if you were to add the trivial functions to save code as well as data, you would introduce problems of duplicated and nearly-duplicated code. As it is, I still tend to accumulate junk in my scripts as I work through a problem but at least I'm not also trying to figure out which version of a function is the current one. On 1/25/07, ramacd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > This brings up another point for me. I imagine people who actual use > > J have devised an environment for themselves but I have nothing > > equivalent to the simple concept of saving an APL workspace. > > Not that I agree with this reasoning, but I've figured that having no > workspace prevented the occurence of what I'll call the "dumpster" > workspace, where a )SAVE puts all the detritus that you happen to have > into > what turns out to be a permanent form. Over the years, I've gotten used to > having a single workspace, with functions on file, loaded as needed. Thus, > the require verb made perfect sense. In some sense, the workspace idea > encourages lax discipline. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > |\/| Randy A MacDonald | APL: If you can say it, it's done.. (ram) > |/\| [EMAIL PROTECTED] | > |\ | | The only real problem with APL is that > BSc(Math) UNBF'83 | it is "still ahead of its time." > Sapere Aude | - Morten Kromberg > Natural Born APL'er | Demo website: http://156.34.94.188/ > -----------------------------------------------------(INTP)----{ gnat }- > > From: "dly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Donna > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
