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Notation doesn't have to be obscure symbols, the power of the array languages goes well beyond their syntax.
by dsabanin 3y ago
Notation doesn't have to be obscure symbols, the power of the array languages goes well beyond their syntax.
- TeMPOraL 3y agoYes, and it gets multiplied by the power of the notation, once you get familiar with it.
- xelxebar 3y agoHave you ever read Euclid's The Elements? It's all prose and relatively obtuse. Compare that against the modern notation equivalent and you'll see how empowering the algebraic formulation is. The semantics are the same, but the presentation absolutely makes a difference. APL is not 100% about the symbols, but a huge part of being a tool of thought comes from the suggestivity that symbolic notation offers.
- HelloNurse 3y agoOverloading operators by position (left, right, infix) for related meanings and effectively modifying operators by concatenating them with other operators in sufficiently orthogonal ways are major and unusual achievements of APL, and they run much deeper than syntax.