For me, the nicest way to program is to use imperative code that executes from top to bottom and deals with elements one by one. With other approaches, I don't feel as comfortable growing the program incrementally, because they require large changes to the program when the problem statement changes slightly. James Hague said it well in "Puzzle Languages": https://prog21.dadgum.com/38.html
Writing code in a scalar language makes you rather like a general who gives orders to his troops by visiting each one and whispering in his ear. That touch-of-Harry kind of generalling can achieve victorious results, and it has the advantage that the orders can be tailored to the man, but its disadvantages are significant: the general spends much mental energy in formulating individual orders and much breath in communicating them individually; more significant, his limited attention is drawn toward individuals and away from the army as a whole. Even the great Rommel was overtaxed at times.
The J programmer is, in contrast, a general who stands before his army and snaps out orders to the army as a whole. Every man receives the same order, but the order itself contains enough detail for the individual men to act appropriately. Such a general can command a corps as easily as a platoon, and always has the 'big picture' in mind.
