On 1/23/22, Henry Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > Couldn't it be that J is used by mathematical programmers because it's > touted as a mathematical language? > Most of the population of the US considers math 'too hard' and will not > touch anything tainted by it.
Amen! I think that in the eyes of many people, "mathematics" is something for math specialists in universities and research institutions, not for the average man on the street. I started my programming experience in 1976 on a MITS Altair 8800 with Altair BASIC (by Microsoft). Doing "math" by using words (language commands) instead of gradeschool arithmetic and highschool algebra formulas was a whole new way of looking at things. Thirty years later (2006) a library colleague (IT department head) suggested that I take a look at the J language, and I've been "hooked" ever since. > And I disagree that people doing non-math will use non-J. I use J for > simulations, games, and pretty much everything where I get to choose the > language. I use it for the productivity, not the mathiness. I feel that J is *not* a math-specific language (that is, for math people only), but that it is a *general* programming language capable of accomplishing a multitude of things, not just higher math calculations of one type or another (although it is very capable of those). Like Henry, I use J for all sorts of non-"math" things. Right now, most of my J programming is struggling with (and learning from) writing some elementary (and slightly more advanced) stock market applications. Sure, those use numbers, but that's not "math" in the sense that most people think of the higher math "fraternity", for lack of a better term in my mind just now. (I am NOT deprecating those who work with higher math!--I am more attempting to separate "specialists" from "hobbyists", the latter including me.) J is great for "dabblers" who want to accomplish a particular project without the typically large amount of code necessary in other languages (such as the various versions and varieties of the BASIC language I used during those first 30 years). J helps me to write practical, down-to-earth applications for helping (and, perhaps some day soon, sharing with) others, that might lead to them investigating J, too. (I even specifically mentioned J in an article I wrote about W.D. Gann that was published last spring in the journal "Cycles" of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.) > It's a notation of computation, not a notation of > mathematics. A tool of thought, not a tool of proof. I can use J to > help with understanding a problem ... > J is especially good for math people, but it's not caviar to the general. Again, amen! Since (to me) one of J's greatest "feats" is handling and modifying whole tables at once, it helps (almost forces) me (and, I presume, others, too) to look at the larger picture and not just at the tiny steps required by other languages. In a sense, this "frees" the programmer from worrying (or paying attention to) minutiae and helps him/her to focus on what's important. Very interesting topic! Harvey ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
