3 ms·

The wiki page leaves out the source of the the 'point-free' nomenclature - category theory ( e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointless_topology https://en.wi

The wiki page leaves out the source of the the 'point-free' nomenclature - category theory ( e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointless_topology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointless_topology ). The original game was talking about sets (or other similar objects) without talking about 'set membership'/'elements', whence 'point-free'; you want to only talk about functions between sets (or morphisms between objects), and build everything up from those. Is 'tacit' an old term or a newer rebranding? (edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehead%27s_point-free_geometry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehead%27s_point-free_geome... might be earlier than the category stuff, but not sure if it used the 'point-free' nomenclature, nor if it has a direct lineage to the later category theory stuff )

mlochbaum 3y ago
The name "tacit" comes from the APL family as far as I know. It certainly fits with Iverson's style, as he was fond of seeking out just the right word to describe something regardless of obscurity ("ravel", "copula", etc.). I think the name would have come about after the development of function trains in 1988, and I found a paper "Tacit definition" about Iverson's J from 1991: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/114054.114077 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/114054.114077 (digitized at https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/TacitDefn.htm https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/TacitDefn.htm). Not knowing when "point-free" started to be applied to programming, I can't say which is first. I doubt J's developers were aware of "point-free" in any case.
- jan_Inkepa 3y ago
  Great, good to know where it comes from - thanks. :) I'd guess given that I associate point-free with Haskell, which came much later, that the APL nomenclature (of which I was ignorant) came first.
- mlochbaum 3y ago
  I was inspired to write up a little section on Iverson's approach to naming (including his probable coinage of "bubble sort"): https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Ken_Iverson#Naming_things https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Ken_Iverson#Naming_things
layer8 3y ago
> The wiki page leaves out the source of the the 'point-free' nomenclature The wiki page explains it in the very first sentence: “… in which function definitions do not identify the arguments (or "points") on which they operate”.

mlochbaum 3y ago

The name "tacit" comes from the APL family as far as I know. It certainly fits with Iverson's style, as he was fond of seeking out just the right word to describe something regardless of obscurity ("ravel", "copula", etc.). I think the name would have come about after the development of function trains in 1988, and I found a paper "Tacit definition" about Iverson's J from 1991: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/114054.114077 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/114054.114077 (digitized at https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/TacitDefn.htm https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/TacitDefn.htm). Not knowing when "point-free" started to be applied to programming, I can't say which is first. I doubt J's developers were aware of "point-free" in any case.

jan_Inkepa 3y ago
Great, good to know where it comes from - thanks. :) I'd guess given that I associate point-free with Haskell, which came much later, that the APL nomenclature (of which I was ignorant) came first.
mlochbaum 3y ago
I was inspired to write up a little section on Iverson's approach to naming (including his probable coinage of "bubble sort"): https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Ken_Iverson#Naming_things https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Ken_Iverson#Naming_things

layer8 3y ago

> The wiki page leaves out the source of the the 'point-free' nomenclature The wiki page explains it in the very first sentence: “… in which function definitions do not identify the arguments (or "points") on which they operate”.