APL\360

[Brian L. Stuart]

On Friday, January 29, 2021, 10:19:54 AM EST, Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: 
>On Fri, 29 Jan 2021 at 13:11, Peter Corlett via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>> It is *also* the use of symbols. Firstly, some people are just symbol-blind
>> and prefer stuff spelled out in words. It's just how brains are wired.
> 
> Agreed. I submit this is also why some people find Lisp (and perhaps
> Forth and Postscript) straightforward, while to others it remains
ineffable.

This reminds me of something I once heard Grace Hopper
say.  Now this won't be an exact quote since I'm relying
on some rather old memory.  As I remember it, she said:

"There are basically two kinds of people in the world.
The first is those of use who are Mathematicians at
heart.  We want to take all the words and turn them
into symbols.  Everyone else wants to take all the
symbols and turn them into words.  COBOL is for
them."

BLS