I like to use that excellent J Reference Card for version 6.01. You can find very easily what you could use for your problem and if needed - study it more deeply elsewhere. Old and lazy Leo
> I do not have as much difficulty seeing the challenges since I taught > APL to myself and to many others that you might consider "Dummies" > > I am having some difficulties with J > > Here are some examples: > > 1. The notation J layers many things in unique ways and they are not > completely documented. People with wide mathematical experience > will find it easier to discover how particular elements of J behave > than naive users. However explicit documentation could resolve this. > > > 2. Reading requires recognition and many people give up when they > can't recognize things. People can learn to read many kinds of encoding > and can decode in many ways. For example a person may know that R E A > D encodes particular sounds and they might phonetically be able to > pronounce the word read in English but unless they understand that > read means comprehending the meaning of written symbols, that would not > help them to understand the word. On the other hand a speaker of > French might recognize the word READ to be a symbol that can translate > to the French word LIRE and from this might understand that READ means > "Pénétrer dans la connoissance de quelque chose d'obscur & de caché" > There may be different nuances of READ and LIRE that do not map one to > one. > > Reading the J word +. and consulting the documentation to find +.y > yields a two-element list of the real and imaginary parts of its > argument. For example, +.3j5 is 3 5, and +.3 is 3 0 . > might not be sufficient for some people to understand the nuances > of +. in J. > > 3. Mapping a symbol that you think you recognize to the wrong > concept can cause misunderstanding and confusion. > > 4. APL was simple in the following ways and J inherited some and not > other of these > > (a) APL primitives were easy to distinguish from defined verbs, nouns > and variables. J uses ASCII symbols that blend into text. > (b) APL has one consistent syntax and order of operation (with some > anomalies introduced in various implementations to the detriment of > APL). J uses more complex syntax and grammatical forms. > (c) Primitives of APL did allow a level of abstraction that did > simplify underlying complexity. J permits you to compress complex > ideas but it is not necessarily by simplifying an underlying complexity. > > 5. As with any language, simplicity and elegance are produced by the > author and no matter, the reader needs experience and literacy to > appreciate such elements. > > 6. Language acquisition is different at different stages of human > development - there is a difference in your brain between how you > interpret your "mother tongue" or how you learn multiple languages as > a child or in latter years say through ESL (English as a Second > Language) classes. There are families of languages - Romance > languages like French, Spanish, Italian are similar and more readily > mutually understood. J and APL are as different from COBOL or BASIC > as Basque is to the French, Spanish, Italian neighboring languages. > > 7. Very often language differences are used to define a community, to > be understood by members and to exclude members. For those > interested you might find insight in the following: > > How I got into linguistics, and what I got out of it - by William > Labov, University of Pennsylvania >> As I finally figured out, the Martha's Vineyard sound change was >> serving as a symbolic claim to local rights and privileges, and the >> more someone tried to exercise that claim, the stronger was the >> change. This became my M.A. essay, and I gave it as a paper before >> the Linguistic Society of America. > http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/HowIgot.html > > OR > > SapirWhorf hypothesis > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis > > OR > > COMMUNITIES OF DIFFERENCE > Culture, Language, Technology > Edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas > Availability: Now In Stock > First Edition > From Palgrave Macmillan > Pub date: May 2005 > 256 pages > Size 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 > $85.00 - Hardcover (1-4039-6326-6) > Also available: > $29.95 - Paperback (1-4039-6327-4) > > 8. Think of natural language. You might know the sound components > (phonemes) of a language but have a limited vocabulary. You might > learn an extensive vocabulary but misunderstand grammatical > construction. You might have no understanding of prosodic features of > rhythm, pitch, tempo, loudness that convey meaning in speech or be > unable to create written text that evokes these elements. Your > specific background and experience may not provide insight into > language used by another gender, region, class, occupation or other > factor bering on language use. You may not understand how certain > rules are bent or broken to produce special effects like poetry or > jokes. > > Here is an exercise for those interested: Try to understand reading > better by viewing this site. It is a guide to writing Mandarin > Chinese in romanization. > > http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/chinese_adjectives.html > > > > > > dly > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > On 25-Jan-07, at 1:27 PM, Björn Helgason wrote: > >> I guess I am beyond seeing what challenges a Dummy might face >> trying to learn J. >> I guess most of us are. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
