J has a lot of very interesting and powerful features for teaching and learning mathematics. The best example is the collection of verbd for permutations, found on the jsoftware site (mainly using A. and C.). In fact in the 40 or so verbs there, it contains a similar functionality to parts of Sympy, the python library for symbolic algebra and groups. It is a shame some of these powerful tools arent promoted more. I.e. it would be good to have a Sympy-like library, a number theory library, etc. I don't know much about biology or machine learning, but it could be a good idea to "shadow" some python libraries (sympy, numpy, pybrain etc), as in create J libraries with the exact same functionality, showing off places where J outshines Python.
--- Original Message --- From: "Raul Miller" <[email protected]> Sent: August 27, 2014 1:28 AM To: "Chat forum" <[email protected]> Subject: [Jchat] J and education J has a number of elements in it which are slanted towards educational contexts. For example, >> and <: despite already supporting 1&+ and -&1. For example, p. despite already supporting #. (and more complicated expressions). For example, +/ .* despite APL offering the more concise +.x And so on... And we have a few really great labs and books. But what we do not have are extended treatments of topics. There's a lot going on in biology, for example, and we're not even trying there. We could be doing much better in physics simulations, graphics rendering, and so on. Anyways, we should also keep in mind that on the other side of the fence we have a lot of teachers struggling with the other side of these same issues. See, for example: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2014/8/177020-why-the-us-is-not-ready-for-mandatory-cs-education/fulltext I often feel that it's like we are not even trying to come up with anything to offer them. But it's so easy to get caught up in other issues, I guess I understand that. But I am not sure that that makes it right. Thanks, -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
