I think you normally expect text, including manuals, to be readable. If
it is you don't have to do experiments at the terminal to understand the
text. /Erling
On 2017-12-15 04:37, Don Guinn wrote:
How many hours did I spend reading the Dictionary while sitting on the
toilet?
On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 4:27 PM, Jose Mario Quintana <
[email protected]> wrote:
:D
I probably understood half of the entry descriptions I read originally
because I have a very short attention span, I moved on and jumped
frequently to the examples which helped me a lot in conjunction with some
experimentation with the interpreter, which is ultimately the one that
matters (to me) because is the one that produces results.
On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 3:35 AM, Erling Hellenäs <[email protected]
wrote:
For me manuals have always been the first resort. When you read it you
know more than anyone else about the language, because noone else read it
:) The only exception is the J manual, which I find totally unreadable.
/Erling
Den 2017-12-13 kl. 23:46, skrev Jose Mario Quintana:
I am surprised how many people have not read the reference manual -
not just in the J community but among technical people in general.
I really don't know what to make of this.
This, to me, is akin to wondering why many people, particularly young
children, can communicate orally fairly well in a language even when
they
have not studied its grammar.
On the one hand, I write J tacitly the same way I speak, almost always
without consciously thinking about grammar rules. On the other hand, I
learned J, a long time ago, by reading the Dictionary (which is not a
recommended way to learn it) and simultaneously experimenting with the
interpreter (which is definitely recommended).
I wish I had the time to read the Dictionary again in its entirety.
Yet,
I
still remember fondly the answer of a brilliant boss of mine when I
suggested we should look at one particular reference manual: "Are you
kidding? Manuals are the last resort!"
:)
On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 8:39 AM, Raul Miller <[email protected]>
wrote:
On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 3:46 AM, Erling Hellenäs
<[email protected]> wrote:
I doubt you can find reasonably accurate descriptions of this
functionality
(these four helper programs) anywhere else.
This suggests to me that you have not read
http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/dictb.htm
nor
http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/dicta.htm
I am surprised how many people have not read the reference manual -
not just in the J community but among technical people in general.
I really don't know what to make of this.
--
Raul
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