Here is one way to put some documentation in-line and make it easier
to get using J. The tabs do not line up when pasting into gmail but in
the J session they do.
Anyhow:
I have made a file ~system/main/easyJ.ijs defined as follows:
<BEGIN1>
conew 'utils'
QUIET_utils_ =: 0
message_utils_ =: 3 : 0
if. -. QUIET do.
y (1!:2) 2
end.
)
help_z_ =: 0 : 0
For help, type "help".
For help on a topic type help_<topic>_.
I.e. help followed by the topic enclosed in underscores.
Available topics:
files
)
load jpath,'~system/main/files_mod_.ijs'
message_utils_ help_z_
cocurrent 'base'
<END1>
Then I copied ~system/main/files.ijs to files_mod_.ijs and modified
the start to:
<BEGIN2>
conew 'files'
cocurrent 'files'
help =: 0 : 0
File Access Utilities
read verbs take a right argument of a filename, optionally
linked with one or two numbers (as for 1!:11):
0 = start of read (may be negative)
1 = length of read (default rest of file)
write verbs return number of characters written.
filenames may be open or boxed character or unicode strings
string verbs write out text delimited with the host OS delimiter,
and read in text delimited by LF.
on error, the result is _1,
e.g. for file not found/file read error/file write error
dat fappend_files_ fl -append
dat fappends_files_ fl -append string
verb fapplylines_files_ fl -apply verb to lines of file
to fcopynew_files_ fls -copy files (if changed)
to fcopynews_files_ fls -copy files as strings (if changed)
fdir_files_ file -directory
ferase_files_ fl -erase file
fexist_files_ fl -return 1 if file exists
opt fread_files_ fl -read file
opt freadblock_files_ fl -read lines of file in blocks
freadr_files_ fl -read records (flat file)
freads_files_ fl -read string
dat freplace_files_ fl -replace in file
opt fselect_files_ txt -select file
fsize_files_ fl -size of file
str fss_files_ fl -string search file
oldnew fssrplc_files_ fl -search and replace in file
fstamp_files_ fl -file timestamp
dat fwrite_files_ fl -write file
dat fwrites_files_ fl -write string
)
NB. cocurrent 'z'
<END2>
And put:
cocurrent 'base'
at the end of the file.
Then a J-session can be:
<BEGIN3>
load jpath,'~system/main/easyJ.ijs'
For help, type "help".
For help on a topic type help_<topic>_.
I.e. help followed by the topic enclosed in underscores.
Availible topics:
files
help_files_
File Access Utilities
read verbs take a right argument of a filename, optionally
linked with one or two numbers (as for 1!:11):
0 = start of read (may be negative)
1 = length of read (default rest of file)
write verbs return number of characters written.
filenames may be open or boxed character or unicode strings
string verbs write out text delimited with the host OS delimiter,
and read in text delimited by LF.
on error, the result is _1,
e.g. for file not found/file read error/file write error
dat fappend_files_ fl -append
dat fappends_files_ fl -append string
verb fapplylines_files_ fl -apply verb to lines of file
to fcopynew_files_ fls -copy files (if changed)
to fcopynews_files_ fls -copy files as strings (if changed)
fdir_files_ file -directory
ferase_files_ fl -erase file
fexist_files_ fl -return 1 if file exists
opt fread_files_ fl -read file
opt freadblock_files_ fl -read lines of file in blocks
freadr_files_ fl -read records (flat file)
freads_files_ fl -read string
dat freplace_files_ fl -replace in file
opt fselect_files_ txt -select file
fsize_files_ fl -size of file
str fss_files_ fl -string search file
oldnew fssrplc_files_ fl -search and replace in file
fstamp_files_ fl -file timestamp
dat fwrite_files_ fl -write file
dat fwrites_files_ fl -write string
help
For help, type "help".
For help on a topic type help_<topic>_.
I.e. help followed by the topic enclosed in underscores.
Available topics:
files
<END3>
If something like this was accessible in the J session window (but
with many more topics) then I think J would be much easier to use
without such a high learning curve.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
