Dan Bron wrote:
This is easy to see if we take a reductionist approach: a single J
token is either a built-in J primitive, or it's a user-defined name
with an arbitrary definition. Primitives never change their definition
(good thing!). And the dictionary of J explicitly states, at
http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/dict2.htm that:
Primitives don't change their definition over a single version of J,
that is true. Over multiple versions it is a different story. In fact,
I long ago coined a term ("getting henked") for the suffering one
undergoes when one assumes upward compatibility.
On the original idea of this thread, having a REPL facility, which
doesn't come in primitive-only J, doesn't strike me as a stretch of its
capabilities. I do wonder at the (if you want a responsive computer,
don't let a user near J) attitude, and where it comes from. Amelia's
note that J "isn't meant for user input." crystallizes a big misgiving I
have about J, even though I have been pro-J since J has been around.
>: ...
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