4 ms·

I am convinced that the J programming language is an elaborate hoax. I just don't understand how anyone is falling for it.

beders 12y ago
This!
- avmich 12y ago
  The whole APL, the Turing prize, the Google which in the news in regard to that prize... All of them conspired. Approximate quote from a C textbook: "Besides, C is actually the language made for programmers. Pascal is for students, Basic for housewives, Lego for schoolchildren, Fortran for scientist, APL for martians... Only C is for programmers." First time I saw APL I was suspicious - can it do anything in addition to matrix manipulation? I do understand your concerns. P.S. BTW, Dijkstra ones was asking Iverson if APL is actually Turing-complete, or something like that. Iverson produced a typical APL answer for a problem - which wouldn't say much to anybody who doesn't know the meaning of symbols. Just like reading in foreign alphabet.
  - BugsBunnySan 12y ago
    The title of this article provides a good argument for "C being for programmers." Seems like for every language FOO there's bound to be between 1 and a-lot of tutorials and introductions 'FOO for C Programmers'. Most languages appear to have an inferiority complex when it comes to C, so they need to prove how much better they are...
    - kd0amg 12y ago
      More likely, new languages realize that they are the new thing and that (a naive mental model of) C is the established lingua franca of programming.
zimpenfish 12y ago
I feel the same way about Haskell and Monads.
- WolfeReader 12y ago
  It's true: everything you don't already intuitively understand is just a prank, and everyone who claims to get it is either a trickster or a mark. Isn't it fortunate that you already know everything worth knowing! How are your Blub projects going these days?
  - zimpenfish 12y ago
    That's ... quite the interpretation and projection from one throwaway line.

beders 12y ago

This!

avmich 12y ago
The whole APL, the Turing prize, the Google which in the news in regard to that prize... All of them conspired. Approximate quote from a C textbook: "Besides, C is actually the language made for programmers. Pascal is for students, Basic for housewives, Lego for schoolchildren, Fortran for scientist, APL for martians... Only C is for programmers." First time I saw APL I was suspicious - can it do anything in addition to matrix manipulation? I do understand your concerns. P.S. BTW, Dijkstra ones was asking Iverson if APL is actually Turing-complete, or something like that. Iverson produced a typical APL answer for a problem - which wouldn't say much to anybody who doesn't know the meaning of symbols. Just like reading in foreign alphabet.
- BugsBunnySan 12y ago
  The title of this article provides a good argument for "C being for programmers." Seems like for every language FOO there's bound to be between 1 and a-lot of tutorials and introductions 'FOO for C Programmers'. Most languages appear to have an inferiority complex when it comes to C, so they need to prove how much better they are...
  - kd0amg 12y ago
    More likely, new languages realize that they are the new thing and that (a naive mental model of) C is the established lingua franca of programming.

zimpenfish 12y ago

I feel the same way about Haskell and Monads.

WolfeReader 12y ago
It's true: everything you don't already intuitively understand is just a prank, and everyone who claims to get it is either a trickster or a mark. Isn't it fortunate that you already know everything worth knowing! How are your Blub projects going these days?
- zimpenfish 12y ago
  That's ... quite the interpretation and projection from one throwaway line.