In effect, replies here effect to provide some criteria, but each is slightly different and somewhat begs the question, since said criteria can be easily chosen to support whatever conclusion you want.
When the object level discussion (i.e. in this case, the comparison of code size metrics) is ill-defined, the only natural thing we can reach for are cached ideas, heuristics, memetic trends, etc. That is, the discussion essentially becomes an implicit sharing of which cultural ideas we consider salient and important.
That is why I keep going on about culture and values in my previous replies. I'm not saying anything about ASTs vs. token count or whatever. I'm trying to say, "Hey, fellow devs. You know all the obvious ways that K and APL violate our sense of what good and proper code should look like? You know how they feel wrong? Well, actual experience by APL and K devs provides us evidence that we're potentially wrong and should give these languages more open-minded attention."
