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It's a must read because it's so far outside our normal experience. First the languages are derivatives of APL that do one thing very well and nothing else. D
by russell 18y ago
It's a must read because it's so far outside our normal experience. First the languages are derivatives of APL that do one thing very well and nothing else. Don't try doing a web page in APL. Second, the programs efficiently process billion and trillion line databases in a tightly constrained environment. Third, Whitley throws away everything every few years and reimplements from scratch, even the parts that work. He talked about millions of hours of running time without an error. Pretty amazing.
It got me to thinking about the virtues of simplicity instead of the increasing complexity that we are getting into.
- gruseom 18y ago[Whitney's] languages are derivatives of APL that do one thing very well and nothing else. I don't think that's fair. They are general-purpose languages. It's true that they've mostly been used on certain classes of problems so far, but that could just be a historical accident. Who's to say what people would make with them if they found a broader audience? Whitney is not someone who thinks in special cases. Edit: I agree with everything else you said, though.