-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 "Mattia Landoni" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I am an economist and I discovered J a few days ago. I haven't been so > excited since when I was 13 and Santa brought me an 8-bit Nintendo > Entertainment System. Yet before taking a week off from work to study J > (just kidding) I would like to be sure it does everything I need. Here are Mattia, Welcome! I understand the excitement. While I've been using J for quite a while, I'm not nearly as accomplished as some here, but I can answer a few of your questions. > Data Management > - I import data from several sources. Not always are they in straightforward > formats. Are there libraries or built-in function to import text (e.g. .csv, > .tab, fixed format) and non-text (e.g. Excel, 1-2-3) data? Sure. See, for example, http://jsoftware.com/jwiki/Interfaces . The Excel section covers Tara (perhaps the most full-featured Excel interface), csv (quite easy to use), and more. Text Files covers more of what you seek. There's also http://www.jsoftware.com/help/user/libraries.htm from the User Manual (also part of the download). > - (*) I often merge datasets (sort of SQL join). The other day I saw that it > is possible to embed a database (SQLite) through a library. Are there > interfaces to other databases? I usually use MySQL (last time I checked > SQLite did not implement enough SQL for my purposes - that was probably 2 > years ago). Are there in-built functions to perform similar operations? > (although I'd be very happy to do all the merging in SQL). Perhaps http://jsoftware.com/jwiki/DB will be of help. > Learning > - What's the fastest way to learn the basics for a greedy person who learns > the average C-like programming language in a week? Normally what I do is to > learn "what can be done" and then start programming right away with a > reference at hand. Here it does not seem so simple... right? There are lots of approaches. I like treating it as if it were a natural language: speak it with a native speaker (the J interpreter), and see what sort of interesting conversations you can carry on. Eventually -- not that long -- you'll begin to be able to carry on useful conversations (write useful programs). For that purpose, check out the J Primer (part of the download, also available at http://jsoftware.com/jwiki/System/Documentation). You may also like the two other books that come with J: _Learning J_ and _J for C Programmers_. In any case, I think one learns best by reading and doing at the same time, not by reading without a computer keyboard at the ready. Don't forget to check out the labs and demos in J (in the Studio menu). Oh, and subscribe to the J Programming forum. People there are quite helpful. I suspect you won't /learn/ (all of) J in a week (perhaps in a life), but I imagine you'll be doing quite a few impressive things pretty quickly. Bill - -- Bill Harris http://facilitatedsystems.com/weblog/ Facilitated Systems Everett, WA 98208 USA http://facilitatedsystems.com/ phone: +1 425 337-5541 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) Comment: For more information, see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQFH8Fab3J3HaQTDvd8RAoFlAJ0QYvdWpJ/F+P0StgKij/rn0xefEQCeKCdA m5UlwQrJBDcVjBB6X4MXcho= =v/jm -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
