You should definitely check out uiua (https://www.uiua.org/)! Array programming can certainly be intimidating, but I think it's worth doing for a few reasons:
- The "array"-ish solution to a problem is usually a very data-oriented solution. Even if you aren't working in an array-oriented language (and just to be clear, I'm not advocating that people write production code in array languages), "thinking in arrays" helps me come up with more elegant solutions.
- Learning array programming is a little like learning to program all over again. If you really enjoyed the process of learning to program, it lights up those same brain circuits, which I found really enjoyable.
- If you ever want to do any graphics programming the mental model can be very helpful. Array programming really helped me wrap my mind around how shader programs are executed.
Uiua is little unique in that it is also a stack-based language, so learning both paradigms at the same time can definitely be a little challenging, but I think it's well worth it.
> As is often the case with array programming, I revisited this last week only to realize I couldn’t read it
> The advantage of array languages in my experience has always been their immediacy.
They seem to have a lot in common with regexes in that regard. Super useful for interactive use cases in editors, search engines, etc. But if you find yourself saving a regex it's at least code smell and probably a red flag.
Some of the array language people seem to think it's sane to write an entire program in regex-lang, which is less red flag and more red banner flying through the sky.
100% agree. Even when I am working with J or Uiua enough that I can comfortably read them, I can't really imagine trying to work on a large (even just thousands of lines, let alone larger) project in them. I know that they exist, and I assume that with a team of competent programmers some different mechanisms would evolve to make things easier to understand, but given the choice between Java and uiua, I would much rather maintain a multi-person multi-year project in Java. The verbosity/boilerplate becomes a strength in that setting, rather than a weakness.
Mega-cool. This is a totally different way to think about it. Uiua seems intimidating, I had never heard of it before.
You should definitely check out uiua (https://www.uiua.org/)! Array programming can certainly be intimidating, but I think it's worth doing for a few reasons:
- The "array"-ish solution to a problem is usually a very data-oriented solution. Even if you aren't working in an array-oriented language (and just to be clear, I'm not advocating that people write production code in array languages), "thinking in arrays" helps me come up with more elegant solutions.
- Learning array programming is a little like learning to program all over again. If you really enjoyed the process of learning to program, it lights up those same brain circuits, which I found really enjoyable.
- If you ever want to do any graphics programming the mental model can be very helpful. Array programming really helped me wrap my mind around how shader programs are executed.
Uiua is little unique in that it is also a stack-based language, so learning both paradigms at the same time can definitely be a little challenging, but I think it's well worth it.
> As is often the case with array programming, I revisited this last week only to realize I couldn’t read it
> The advantage of array languages in my experience has always been their immediacy.
They seem to have a lot in common with regexes in that regard. Super useful for interactive use cases in editors, search engines, etc. But if you find yourself saving a regex it's at least code smell and probably a red flag.
Some of the array language people seem to think it's sane to write an entire program in regex-lang, which is less red flag and more red banner flying through the sky.
100% agree. Even when I am working with J or Uiua enough that I can comfortably read them, I can't really imagine trying to work on a large (even just thousands of lines, let alone larger) project in them. I know that they exist, and I assume that with a team of competent programmers some different mechanisms would evolve to make things easier to understand, but given the choice between Java and uiua, I would much rather maintain a multi-person multi-year project in Java. The verbosity/boilerplate becomes a strength in that setting, rather than a weakness.