I quite liked this description of J from The Encyclopedia of Computer Languages:
A very high-level general-purpose language, partially derivative and partially a rethink of APL, with strong emphasis on functional programming and array processing. Purely functional with lexical scope and more conventional control structures, plus several new concepts such as function rank and function arrays. J was designed and developed by Ken Iverson and Roger Hui, and implemented by Iverson Software Inc.(ISI). J is distinguished by it's simple and consistent rules, a large set of built-in functions, powerful facilities for defining new operations, and a general and systematic treatment of arrays. It is ideal for complex analytical work, modeling, and RAD ( Rapid Application Development). http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage.prx?exp=1558&language=J ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
