I think that "It's what I'm used to." is the main reason - intellectual comfort zone.

Having learned BASIC, FORTRAN and Pascal, C seemed like line noise - at first. As did PERL. And then k.

Btw, COBOL seemed "too verbose".

Once I actually started writing many k programs and then reading even more of them, I was able to recalibrate for the abstraction/density. I moved my intellectual comfort zone. Ironically, I was already there with mathematics. However, programming languages were different :).

Now, as a result, every time I have to read Java, I suffer from a kind of fatigue - having to read way too much code to glean the writer's intent. I just want them to get to the F'ing point.

N.B. - Mathematical literature/writing went through this same transition during the Renaissance. Equations were described in natural language (not unlike COBOL). A simple polynomial could require a paragraph of text to describe.

I'm not sure -- I know that after the fourth or fifth time solving a problem on projecteuler.net in 20 lines of code and seeing someone post a 1-line J/K solution, I went and downloaded J. I even managed to solve a few euler problems with it, which I regard as a large accomplishment for a novice. I like to tell people I've written a whole twenty or so lines of code in J!

I do enjoy learning about such things, but, for most of the work I do, performance is nowhere near at the top of the list of things I care about. Also in the past I've been burned by code that's small/fast but is otherwise utterly unmaintainable. I'm not saying that's the case here, but... past experience, and all that tends to color perceptions.

I think with a language like k or q, which appears to be purpose-built for certain types of problems, people look at it and get easily confused and discouraged because it's so different from all the more mainstream general-purpose programming languages they're used to. And it's a lot easier to put down something you don't understand than to admit you don't get it, or to spend lots of time learning something that may not be of much use to you. Kinda sucks, but it's often human nature.

It all depends on how you define "small and fast".

Comments obviously are not code, so it's reasonable to complain about lack of comments.

You suggested wordcount, I think wordcount is good, so it's reasonable to complain about single letter words rather than descriptive words.

uberalex's suggestion for reformatting wouldn't change the algorithm or speed. It would simply spread operations across more lines. That also seems like a reasonable thing to ask, to me. They can learn your method either way.

Edit: I mean, I'm sure fitting more on the screen is valuable, but people already know how to fit many times as much code onto a screen. They avoid it on purpose for whatever reason.

I don't understand it either. But it happens everywhere, not just in code. Most people are only interested in the "truth" and "facts" as long as it fits within their existing world view.

And things like K rarely do.

Hey, just read bytecode, then. As small and fast as you can get.