Ken was well aware of the existing meaning of "proverb" when he coined the new meaning for it in J. He was not one to let existing meanings stand in the way if the new meaning is apt. e.g. noun, verb, adverb, valence, ambivalence, locale, inflection, rank, ...
----- Original Message ----- From: PMA <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011 18:02 Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] One word description of J To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > This reminds me to ask: When the J term "proverb" was invented > (derived via grammatical logic from the existing "pronoun"), what > thought was given to the result's pre-existence in the language > as meaning something *else*? > > P.A. > > [email protected] wrote: > > I think that the word "feral" has negative and destructive > > connotations. Not a word to use if you want to promote > the use of J > > to a manager. > > > > Surely we need a word that indicates incredible usefulness or > > competence. How about "dextrous" or "omnidextrous". > > > > Simon > > > > > > Quoting John Baker<[email protected]>: > > > >> I've been thinking about what's a good single word > description of J. > >> Something that suggests the important features of > the language and conveys > >> the spirit of J programming. I offer the word: > feral. Here's a footnote I > >> recently added to the upcoming JOD 0.9.3 documentation. > >> > >> Coming up with an accurate description of J is a challenge. > The language is > >> definitely array oriented and contains an almost pure functional > >> tacit sub-language. However J also contains substantial > imperative features > >> and its clever use of locales and locale paths simulates most > of the useful > >> features of object oriented languages. Waving your hands and > declaring a > >> language multi-paradigm or agile is the standard way out but > unfortunately>> this does not distinguish J. I think J is a > *feral* programming language. > >> The word feral sounds like a mixture of functional and > imperative and the > >> established meaning of feral: almost wild, wilily, able to > survive on your > >> own but willing to cooperate – on your own terms - conveys > the independent > >> free thinking character of J programmers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
