2009/6/16 Dan Bron <[email protected]>: > This is (one reason) why I participate in code-sharing sites like > RosettaCode and Wikipedia. For > example, I just added J to Wikipedia's trim page [1].
Adding J references to Wikipedia pages is a great way to increase J-exposure. > Or, perhaps, how do users expect to be able to ask these types of questions, > and how can we improve the answers? When someone > wants to know "how do I trim in J", do they ask Google first? The J Wiki? > Find-in-Help-Files in the J session? The Ndx? I know it is unfashionable, but I like to have an all-in-one, definitive, massive, linear PDF file. I like to be able to read through a manual from start to finish rather than jumping around a set of web pages. Otherwise I always think I have missed something. > PS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(programming)#J This is great to get people to look at J, but where is: trim =. #~ [: (+./\ *. +./\.) ' '&~: defined for a new J user to employ. I imagine somebody installing J and typing: trim ' something ' |value error: trim | trim' something ' I am not sure how long they would hang around for after searching for trim in the documentation and website. These common types of operation need to be pinned down. Maybe it would be nice to be able to type: load 'easyJ' And that would define a ton of useful verbs (perhaps in appropriate name spaces trim_str_ ) and people can really just jump straight in. It could load all of the stuff in the ~system/main directory and output a message for each verb saying: "trim_str_ - trim white space from a string." "readcsv_oi_ - load a csv file." ... Then you can see a list of all the things you can do without having to know what file it is in and just have a play. That might avoid a lot of new user (and perhaps seasoned user?) frustration where you get held up looking for this kind of stuff. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
