Terrence Brannon wrote:
> I understand that J came out when the Borland model
> of software release was en vogue. But, in this day
> and age, free and open source software has proven
> itself a viable business model.
>
> With that in mind:
>
> * should J go open source? why or why not?
It seems likely that the staff of J Software have
discussed that question, and apparently come to a
decision that open source is not the best choice.
While it is true that the implementation of J provided
(at no charge) by J Software is not open-source, this
does not mean that J, as a language, is somehow not
open-source. It just means that nobody has yet
created an open-source implementation of the language.
The possibility of creating an open-source
implementation of this language periodically comes
under discussion. So far, that has not been
attractive enough for anybody to take up the project
in earnest.
> I have seen cases where people immediately lost
> interest in J when they saw it was closed source.
Of course the absence of open-source implementation
will be a deciding factor for some. That fact, in and
of itself, doesn't make much difference with the
decisions as to whether open-source implementations
will be created.
At this time, the J user community is mainly comprised
of folk who are happy to work with the J Software
implementation, under the available terms. Any
open-source effort would involve trying to accomplish
what Roger Hui has already accomplished. That no body
of volunteers has appeared to do so does not surprise
me in the least.
--
Tracy B. Harms
It is the central thesis of this book that the descriptive
and analytic power of an adequate programming language amply
repays the considerable effort required for its mastery.
Kenneth E. Iverson
A Programming Language, 1962
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