From 226c2d2e433bddad419e81870f5357fbe033f0ce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Marshall Lochbaum Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:26:27 -0400 Subject: Instructions for AutoHotKey and other Windows notes --- docs/index.html | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to 'docs/index.html') diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html index 39a2de99..e151c435 100644 --- a/docs/index.html +++ b/docs/index.html @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@

More snippets are programmed into the live demo at the top of the page: hit the arrow at the right of the code window to see them. For longer samples, you can gaze into the abyss that is the self-hosted compiler, or the shallower but wider abyss of the runtime, or take a look at the friendlier markdown processor used to format and highlight documentation files. This repository also has some translations from "A History of APL in 50 Functions".

How do I work with the character set?

Right at the beginning, you can use the bar above the online REPL to enter BQN code: hover over a character to see a short description, and click to insert it into the editor. But you'll soon want to skip the clicking and use keyboard input. I type the special characters using a backslash escape, so that, for example, typing \ then z writes ⥊ (the backslash character itself is not used by BQN). The online REPL supports this method out of the box, and the editor plugins include or link to ways to enable it for editors, browsers, shells, and so on.

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The font comparison page shows several fonts that support BQN (including the one used on this site, BQN386). Most other monospace fonts are missing some BQN characters, such as double-struck letters 𝕨, 𝕩 and so on, which will cause these characters to be rendered with a fallback font and possibly have the wrong width or look inconsistent. The double-struck characters also require two bytes in UTF-16, which breaks rendering in many Windows terminals. If you have this problem, wsl-terminal with an appropriate font definitely supports them.

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The font comparison page shows several fonts that support BQN (including the one used on this site, BQN386). Most other monospace fonts are missing some BQN characters, such as double-struck letters 𝕨, 𝕩 and so on, which will cause these characters to be rendered with a fallback font and possibly have the wrong width or look inconsistent. The double-struck characters also require two bytes in UTF-16, which breaks rendering in many Windows terminals. If you have this problem, VS Code and wsl-terminal with an appropriate font definitely support them.

Why would I use it?

There are plenty of clean, modern languages out there, and a good number of array languages. I don't think any other language fits both descriptions quite so well as BQN, and I find the combination lets me write powerful and reliable programs quickly. What you find in the language will depend on your background.

If you haven't yet used an array language, BQN will present you with new ways of thinking that can streamline the way you work with data and algorithms. There's no denying that array programming has begun to creep into the mainstream, and you might be wondering if BQN has anything to offer when you can hack reduces and filters with the best of them. It does: real array programming is different in character, with more and better array operations on immutable multidimensional arrays, and syntax better suited to them. Performance that resembles a low-level compiled language more than a high-level dynamic one. Primitives flow together and compose better—one aspect that sets BQN apart from other array languages is a set of combinators that's more intuitive than previous attempts. I also happen to think BQN's character arithmetic system would improve just about any language.

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