I would consider f g h in isolation to be a verb phrase, being a phrase whose value is a verb. To achieve isolation sometimes you need parentheses.
"The left argument of an adverb is the entire verb phrase that precedes it" is fine as far as it goes, but there are situations when you need to make finer distinctions than what the sentence literally says. For example, sum=:+/ is a verb phrase but in sum=:+/\ you have to understand that the entire verb phrase that precedes \ is NOT the argument of the adverb \ . That is, it's different from (sum=:+/) \ . ----- Original Message ----- From: Oleg Kobchenko <[email protected]> Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 11:19 Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Adverb and conjunction parsing rules To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > > So why isn't my gm phrase parsed as (# %: *)/ ? > > > Simply, because (f g h) is not a Verb Phrase; > it is a Train (viz a Fork), which has lower "bonding" > priority than Verb Phrase (made of Conjunctions and Adverbs). > > > > > From: Bill Harris <[email protected]> > > > > I've learned that when I see an apparent discrepancy between the > > documentation and behavior in J, the problem lies in my > understanding.> > > So can someone help me make sense of this? > > > > (9!:3) 6 > > (23 & > +. 12 & <) > > (23&>) +. (12&<) > > > > and > > > > gm =: # %: */ > > gm > > # %: (*/) > > > > and (from http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/dicte.htm) > > > > "Moreover, the left argument of an adverb or conjunction is > the entire > > verb phrase that precedes it. Thus, in the phrase +/ . */b , the > > rightmost adverb / applies to the verb derived from the phrase > +/ . * , > > not to the verb * ." > > > > Indeed, > > > > +/ . */ > > ((+/) .*)/ > > > > So why isn't my gm phrase parsed as (# %: *)/ ? > > > > Having to teach this to others is, as usual, helping me learn > some of > > the points I've ignored ... which brings up an idea: if any of > us are > > still in the process of learning J (I guess that's most of us, > at least > > at some level), would it be a good idea for us to volunteer to > teach it > > to others? We could get two results: better J skills and more > > J'ugglers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
