Definitely, a mouse action, or even an F1 or Ctrl-F1 or similar keyboard shortcut would be highly desirable. Even better is that such an action gives a short description AND a live link to the full documentation page.
Compare the present J interface with that for a state-of-the-art programming system: Mathematica Version 9. In the latter you have not only such a shortcut key for short description plus link-to-help, but also the following: - as you begin to type a built-in name, by default a list of possible completions pops up; - if you just press Enter, you get the first of the list auto-completed; but - if you type more to match uniquely an initial segment of another entry, then press Enter, you get the corresponding name auto-completed; and - through a mouse action you can see templates for various forms of the chosen completion, select which template you want to use, and have it automatically entered for you (so you then merely type in the specific arguments. (You can turn off that default auto-completion behavior, which sometimes is annoying, but then invoke auto-completion, as described above, for any particular expression by a keyboard shortcut.) Having to search code source for documentation is so 20th century! Having to imagine documentation when it's been stripped from source is positively medieval. On 24 Feb 2013 06:12:23 -0700, Don Guinn <[email protected]> wrote: > How about being able to park the cursor/mouse over a primitive or any name > defined in the z locale and having a description of how to use it pop up? > > On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 10:45 PM, bill lam <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I think stdlib is special in that it is loaded automatically >> during booting. For cgi applications I certainly welcome the >> current behavior. Will you accept if a separate documentation >> file for stdlib be available somewhere? There is a joxygen >> addon but I have no experience with it or the original oxygen >> either. >> >> ??, 24 ??? 2013, Gilles Kirouac ?????(?): >>> >>> I am in full agreement with Martin's statement about >>> the lost script documentation. What a disappointment >>> when I couldn't find how to use some string verb. >>> >>> Think of the reaction of a young newcomer I am trying >>> to get interested in J when I have to say "those scripts >>> were documented, but they are not anymore". Think about >>> how fast he turns away. >>> >>> I hope for a correction. >>> >>> ~ Gilles >>> >>> >>> ---------- Original Message ----------- >>> From: [email protected] >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:29:54 GMT >>> Subject: Re: [Jgeneral] How access script documentation? >>> >>>>> Some previous scripts had been merged into stdlib. Even when >>>>> scripts are available, most of them had been stripped all >>>>> comments including information for scriptdoc. >>>> >>>> I think that this is a grave mistake. (The mutilation, >>>> not necessarily the integration.) >>>> >>>> Firstly, like Murray, I am missing the documentation. Not just >>>> for learning how a function is supposed to be used but also to find >>>> a suitable function in first place. >>>> >>>> Secondly, we are often enough forced to dig into the library >>>> functions when are not properly working. We *want* to help, but >>>> having to that with a merged giant script bereft of sructure, layout, >>>> and comments is like having insult added to injury. >>>> >>>>> You can browse source files from the web interface of the svn >>>>> repositories or download a copy of them into your local harddisk. >>>> >>>> That whole shebang of having (a) "true" source scripts, (b) packages, >>>> and (c) unpacked production scripts has always been needlessly >>>> complex and over-the-top for my feeble mind. --- Murray Eisenberg [email protected] Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2838 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
