We have all seen advertisements about learning a new foreign language in a very short time. I have tried several of those and ok you learn a little bit but you only know a very little bit after each lesson. It takes years and a lot of practice to learn enough to become fluent. Learning J is not much different. You can easily teach, show, and learn a little bit from a short demo. But if you do not spend some serious time on J you will not learn enough to speak to the natives. Most other computer languages are similar so going from one to the other you can pretty much easily pick up a new language by using same techniques from what you know in others. Going to J is so much different that knowing other languages does not help you much. It may even be a hindrance. Learning a new language may also meaning a new culture. Think about a japanese going to Paris to learn french. A crash course for three weeks before the trip will not prepare a person for the change of culture. The japanese has a certain way of talking to other at home. When coming to Paris besides speaking a different language they behave very differently too. So if you know a computer language you are used to then meeting J can be a culture shock. All kinds of operations behave differently. You need to rethink pretty much everything. It is pretty obvious that different people need different approaches to learning and adjusting to a new language and culture. For people coming from APL to J I assume it is similar for a person going from one german language to another or one latin language to another. Look through the windows of a different culture, learn its language, and perhaps get to know its people.
-- Björn Helgason, Verkfræðingur Fornustekkum II 781 Hornafirði, t-póst: [email protected] gsm: +3546985532 sími: +3544781286 http://groups.google.com/group/J-Programming Tæknikunnátta höndlar hið flókna, sköpunargáfa er meistari einfaldleikans góður kennari getur stigið á tær án þess að glansinn fari af skónum /|_ .-----------------------------------. ,' .\ / | Með léttri lund verður | ,--' _,' | Dagurinn í dag | / / | Enn betri en gærdagurinn | ( -. | `-----------------------------------' | ) | (\_ _/) (`-. '--.) (='.'=) ♖♘♗♕♔♙ `. )----' (")_(") ☃☠ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
