What I mean by that is that locales cannot contain other locales. name_locale_
Contrast this with the K tree which I think allows names like this: .node1.node2.node3.leaf (using the . to separate names rather than _ and working from left to right rather than from right to left). Of course, K sacrifices "OOP" in its focus on speed. So it might not be so good in an educational context. But I highly respect Arthur Whitney's taste in tradeoffs, and I think they are worth keeping in mind, especially when offering explanations. In J, you can have names like this_is_an_example (with embedded underlines) and you can reference that in a locale by including a locale suffix: this_is_an_example_base_=: 1 or foo=: <'base' this_is_an_example__foo=: 2 But this is an error: foo=: <'this_is_odd' this_is_an_example__foo=: 3 |ill-formed name: foo Only the last two underlines matter currently, in J, and locale names cannot contain the '_' character. The other optional '_' characters in names are just decoration. Does this make sense? Thanks, -- Raul On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 10:58 PM, chris burke <[email protected]> wrote: > > ... they all exist on the same level > > I am not sure what you mean by this, but J has had locale paths since J4, > for example this enables OOP, e.g. create an object from a class. See > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/joop.htm > > > On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 2:22 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Directories are hierarchical - you can have a directory "inside" another > > directory. > > > > There's no way of doing that with locales - they all exist on the same > > level (though of course you can have a reference to any locale inside any > > locale). > > > > Thanks, > > > > -- > > Raul > > > > > > > > On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 12:25 AM, Don Guinn <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I don't understand what you mean when you say "locals are not > > > hierarchical". Locales are just name spaces. Locales are implicitly > > > referenced through path (18!:2). The path determines how locales are > > > searched to resolve a name not found in the current locale. This search > > is > > > hierarchical. The locales are searched in the order specified in 18!:2. > > But > > > each locale has its own path. In this way the hierarchy of locales > > depends > > > on the current locale. In this way it is easy to implement classes in > J. > > > But paths can be used outside of J classes in interesting ways. > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 8:52 PM, Steven Taylor <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > the verbname__location / verbname_location_ format places more > emphasis > > > on > > > > the verb or noun inside that locale (assuming a left to right > cultural > > > > reading orientation). That appears illogical because nobody else > does > > > > that, however it can help with readability if you can get used to it. > > > > > > > > It also helps if you can flatten out the locale 'tree' (although > > locales > > > > are not hierarchical). I mean just symantically. > > > > > > > > I found the process of re-evaluating how I initially thought > namespaces > > > > 'should' work refreshing and overall I think locales have helped me > > make > > > > better namespace naming choices in other more verbose languages. > > > > > > > > I'd also encourage considering locales outside of a strict oo > context. > > > > Try to stay away from state when possible. > > > > > > > > This is so obvious I am embarrassed that it took me so long to > consider > > > > this -- there are French and english 'locales' in Canada... And I > > thought > > > > this sense of the word may have been behind J's use of it. Probably > > > that's > > > > obvious to everyone in north America ;-). > > > > > > > > If you find yourself writing > > > > A wrapper just around a structure like this > > > > Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,obj>>, you'll know that locales > > have > > > > grown on you. I may have done that recently > > > > ;) > > > > > > > > -Steven T. > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > 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 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
