[bug#65935] [PATCH] gnu: Add ngn-k.

["B. Wilson via Guix-patches" via <guix-patches@gnu.org>]

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> wrote:
> … I find it hard to believe they’re “readable” to anyone in the sense of
> being the “preferred form” for modifications or even just studying it.
> (Heck, even the Makefile has optional whitespace removed, as if trying
> hard to make it unreadable!)

It's definitely a gawker at first sight. For comparison, take a look at this in
progress YAML parser of mine:

https://github.com/xelxebar/dayaml/blob/22d20b335bfc99e8e140fee8ca5e7f5f1320f72d/Y.apln

I swear that I sweat blood on this making it as brutally direct and clear as
possible!

> I don’t think we have a precedent here; I wouldn’t want to make a
> decision based on a personal judgment, and I understand I know nothing
> about the APL language family, but someone will have to clarify how
> those 1.2K lines of C were written/generated.

From indirectly knowing the dev, my understanding is that the code is
hand-written. The motivation is basically to decrease the cognitive dissonance
between writing K and writing C. Ideally, you'd want to just write a K
interpreter using K, but that's a whole different can of worms.

The de facto K interpreter, Shakti, is proprietary and expensive, but from
talking to some people on the inside, I gather that it's also written in this
extremely terse style.

> I’d love to hear what others think!
> 
> Thanks,
> Ludo’.

Anyway, thanks for reviving this.