Sure, but the C compiler doesn't write its code for human eyes to read.
The programs we write in J are (usually) intended for both computers (i.e.
the J interpeter) and people (e.g. ourselves, our code maintainers, people
we're bragging to, etc).
-Dan
----- Original Message ---------------
Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Code clarity
From: Björn Helgason <gos...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:57:27 +0000
To: Programming forum <programm...@jsoftware.com>
If you try to read compiled executable code from C it would not be very
readable.
On 13.1.2014 18:45, "Dan Bron" <j...@bron.us> wrote:
> We often say the APL family of languages allow us to use language as a tool
> of thought. How does this play out in practice? Do we approach reading J
> programs differently from those written in other languages? If so, how?
>
> These questions occurred to me today while I was knocking together an
> implementation of a RosettaCode task on reading configuration files. The
> task is to parse file formatted like the following:
>
> # This is the fullname parameter
> FULLNAME Foo Barber
>
> # This is a favourite fruit
> FAVOURITEFRUIT banana
>
> # This is a boolean that should be set
> NEEDSPEELING
>
> # This boolean is commented out
> ; SEEDSREMOVED
>
> Fuller example at [1]. After reading the intro, I copy/pasted the example
> into a J noun and proceeded to write this:
>
> deb L:0@:(({.~ ; [: < [: ;^:(1=#) ',' cut (}.~>:)) i.&1@:e.&'
> =')&>@(#~
> a:&~: > ';#'e.~{.&>)@:(dlb&.>)@:(LF&cut)
>
> Which is a verb which takes the configuration text as input and produces a
> table of name-value pairs as output. My first thought was "wow, I was able
> to knock that together in literally less than a minute, through simple
> incremental iterations in the REPL: J is AWESOME".
>
> But then, thinking about posting it, I realized "this is awful, no one's
> going to be able to read it like this, and it's going to take more work to
> make it readable than it took to make it actually work".
>
> So that got me thinking about what exactly we mean by J as a notation. And
> I wondered: how could we use the language to express our thoughts more
> clearly, and how does that differ from how we write J when we just want to
> get something done? And is this a different or more difficult problem for
> J than other languages?
>
> So, how would you write an configuration file parser in J, if clarity were
> an important concern? I'm interested in not only the actual program, but
> the reasoning behind the decisions you make.
>
> -Dan
>
> [1] RosettaCode task to read a configuration file:
> http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Read_a_configuration_file
>
>
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