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> Not sure how much is lost We lose manipulability. I can perfectly read an expression like this: (a add b) multiply (a add neg b)
Even I can easily rewrite (with just a few keystrokes, if I have the right editor), into this equivalent expression: (square a) minus (square b)
But, when I make the conversion in my head, I see the mathematical formula. I can easily parse the English version and I can easily write it, but in my head I work with the formula, not with the words.APL languages have a considerable number of symbols to memorize (with the exception of k, which has very few primitives, J in particular has many of them), but the core is always the same and relatively small (see the APL Dictionary, by Iverson), and many symbols are related so they are easy to remember. Nevertheless, it takes a while. Once you learn the symbols, you need to learn common idioms and constructions, which takes even more (J, with a prevalent tacit style, makes this quite difficult) but once you start getting it and can manipulate the symbolic expressions in your head, the English version does not matter any more. There are other reasons, like keeping a large amount of the program on screen (see the videos of arcfide), but mental expression manipulation is what convinced me. |