From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10ad19,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10ad19,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 11440e,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-05 14:15:45 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!nntp-relay.ihug.net!ihug.co.nz!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newshub2.home.com!news.home.com!news1.rdc1.bc.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Roedy Green Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.awk,comp.lang.clarion,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml Subject: Re: Long names are doom ? Organization: Canadian Mind Products Reply-To: roedy@mindprod.com Message-ID: <7ciqhtk6595rgr8qsc92d793ubl1l47saj@4ax.com> References: <3B1411D0.3AAF42E7@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com> <9f2nks$ibd$0@dosa.alt.net> <3B177EF7.2A2470F4@facilnet.es> <9f8b7b$h0e$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9f8r0i$lu3$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9fgagu$6ae$1@nh.pace.co.uk> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.8/32.548 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 21:15:23 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.76.128.193 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.rdc1.bc.home.com 991775723 24.76.128.193 (Tue, 05 Jun 2001 14:15:23 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 14:15:23 PDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ruby:10406 comp.lang.ada:8197 comp.lang.awk:2794 comp.lang.clarion:21152 comp.lang.java.programmer:73838 comp.lang.pl1:787 comp.lang.vrml:3524 Date: 2001-06-05T21:15:23+00:00 List-Id: On Tue, 05 Jun 2001 13:25:58 GMT, Ted Dennison wrote or quoted : >So by this rule, APL produces the most readable code? APL has a bit of a bum rap for several reasons: 1. the glyphs were unreadable on the screens and golf ball typewriters of the time. Iverson designed the glyphs only to be typeset. They are not nearly distinct enough for low res. 2. people judged the language on its IMMEDIATE readability, not after some practice so that the operators were familiar. 3. APL programmers, like Forth programmers, liked to show off with tricky opaque but terse code. But in general, if a solution is shorter, there is less to digest. There is less to go wrong. There is less to keep in sync. Creating terseness with meaningless short identifiers is not what I meant. Terseness by needing the fewest number of syntatic elements with the greatest simplicity in their connections, is valid. Redundancy, just as in English, can help reduce errors. I exaggerate slightly, but, in PostScript for example, almost any string of characters you get from a monkey on a typewriter can be fed successfully to a PS parser. Achieving your terseness at that expense is not wise. For more detail, please look up the key words mentioned in this post in the Java Glossary at: http://mindprod.com/gloss.html If you don't see what you were looking for, complain! or send your contribution for the glossary. -- Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products Custom computer programming since 1963. Ready to take on new work.