Raul, seconding Michal Wallace, I very much admire your closing paragraphs:
"My experience has been that if I can't express a computing concept in J then I do not really understand it. If I can express it in J then it's easy to translate that knowledge into other languages (like javascript). "Personally, I have many goals for the J language. But one of the big ones is helping other people realize just how productive they could be in their favorite computing environment(s) if they also understood J." 1. Make these paragraphs your theme. 2. Use positive language. You can distract your audience with "people scared of", "taught to micromanage", "misguided understanding", "scares people". They will say, "Who, me?" and miss the good information you are providing. --Kip Murray Sent from my iPad > On Feb 20, 2014, at 9:13 AM, Michal Wallace <[email protected]> wrote: > > Raul : > > Two specific things jump out at me: > > 1. The phrase "people scared of admitting their own ignorance" seems a bit > dismissive and I would suspect rather off-putting to any outsiders who came > to the page hoping to find a reason to try J. > > 2. The phrase "people skilled in the language are in high demand, > especially in financial and engineering communities" is surprising to me. > As a newcomer, the impression I get is that there are approximately zero > open J-related jobs in the world, and a small demand for APL developers > from companies wanting to maintain (or replace) legacy systems. > > I am not the only person who shares this perception. I know at least one J > developer who started learning APL recently specifically because it seemed > like that's where the work is. From what I can tell, most of the people who > hang out in the IRC channel seem to treat J as a fun hobby, either for code > golfing, project Euler, or just a change of pace from the norm. > > If there really is a demand, maybe as a community we could find a better > way to let people know. I for one would love to do some J contract work. :) > > As for the rest of the essay... > > For what audience are you writing this? From the title I was sort of > expecting some reasons to use J, but it mostly seems to be a response to > various criticisms of APL. > > I think the strongest pro-j idea in the piece is this part at the end: > > "My experience has been that if I can't express a computing concept in J > then I do not really understand it. If I can express it in J then it's easy > to translate that knowledge into other languages (like javascript)." > > I suppose if I were an English teacher, I might suggest making that your > thesis and expanding the idea... :) > > -Michal > >> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 8:35 AM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I've a new wiki essay up: http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/WhyJ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
