On using primitive names, Alex wrote: >there are dis-advantages and the most glaring one > is the loss of tacit programming.
Really? plus times minus plus times minus (plus times minus)f. + * - 5(plus times minus)f. 4 9 5(plus times minus) 4 9 That said, I see other disadvantages, one being that there is no J literature using those primitive names. They should be only a short-term softener for exposure. Learning the glyphs is not that difficult; always have a copy of the vocabulary sheet available; have three of them in your house! ~ Gilles ---------- Original Message ----------- From: Björn Helgason <[email protected]> To: General forum <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:16:22 +0000 Subject: Re: [Jgeneral] Teaching > Very good! > I guess we need more of such easy introductions. > > 2009/2/23 Alex Rufon <[email protected]> > > > Hi Guys, > > > > I would just like to suggest as looking at this in a different > > perspective. > > > > I have a few/limited success in teaching J using the standard symbols > > but I do have a better success in teaching J with the "primitives" > > add-on. Of course the there are dis-advantages and the most glaring one > > is the loss of tacit programming. > > > > foo=: monad define > > NB. Look at the following while turning off your J knowledge > > NB. Create 2 copies of a 10 by 5 integer > > data=. 2 copy integers 10, 5 > > NB. Create a new command which would sum a table > > sumtable=. plus table > > NB. Get the primary key, first column > > primarykey=. 1 take rank 1 data > > NB. Remove the primary key > > data=. drop rank 1 data > > NB. get the total value by each key > > sumdata=. (nub primarykey) stitch primarykey sumtable key data > > ) > > > > fubar=: 3 : 0 > > data=. 2 #i. 10 5 > > primarykey=. 1 {."1 data > > sumdata=. (~. primarykey),. primarykey +/ /. }. "1 data > > ) > > > > But if you would take into consideration me teaching 10 programmers J > > using primitives add-on and all of them remembered a few of the commands > > in comparison to teaching 10 programmers using J notation and 8 to 9 of > > the students walking away confused. So if your objective is to teach, I > > would start them with general concepts and use the "primitives" addon > > then later on ... for advance topics, you slowly introduce the actually > > J notation. It works for me. > > > > I believe somebody else here has done this too (just forgot who he is). > > > > r/Alex > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > -- > Björn Helgason, Verkfræðingur ... ------- End of Original Message ------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
