On Jan 15, 2008 5:44 AM, Jack Andrews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > what would really be nice is to have a guide that takes apart programs > written in c or python, or java and reduce them to j.
Even when I convert programs to J, I never work this way. In my experience, the best way to convert a C program to J is: [1] Document the program's pupose. [2] Write a new one from first principles. Typically, the result will not work the same as the old one, so this only works when I can ignore "installed base" issues. But most of the resource cost of such conversions usually has little to do with the original needs of the users -- usually the bulk of the resource costs (and conversion costs) has to do with quirks introduced because they were easy to introduce with C. So, anyways, if I do have "installed base" issues, I might re-implement some aspect of the program in J, and then back-port my new design into C. Or, into whatever language -- for example, I have been using that simple HTTP parser I documented on the J wiki in C# because microsoft's analogous mechanisms did not let me do what I wanted to do (I needed an HTTP proxy that transparently passed status codes, cookies and certain other headers). Converting a subset of J's dyadic ;: mechanism to C# was lots simpler than trying to figure out how to work around the limitations of Microsoft's web request code. -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
