[Jprogramming] Definition: Frame of an argument

[Matthew Baulch]

I assume the intended definition of 'frame', in relation to verb arguments,
is that given on

http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Vocabulary/FramingFill

I'm just trying to understand verb/argument combinations with empty
frame--the most common case, I suppose.

>From the wording "each argument is ... an array of [r-cells]. The frame ...
is the shape of this array of [r-cells]", it seems that a frame should
never be empty, but in fact have a minimum shape of '1'. Of course, this
ties into the wording of many other statements. In the case of dyadic
verbs, for instance,

"frames must agree ... they must be identical or one must be a prefix of
the other" (stated in link above)

as opposed to

"frames must agree ... one must have shape 1 or be a prefix of the other"
(the way I see it, assuming equality implies prefix-of)

Can anyone shed some light on this? Is there an important reason for this
convention that I'm missing, or is it of little consequence?

I'm implementing (or trying to...) a subset of J for the JVM, and this is
one little detail that's bothering me.

Thanks.

Matt Baulch