My deepest sympathy for the passing of Eugene. It was through Eugene, I could really got interested in J and play with J. I could remember the time when I was trying to search and read anything written by Eugene online.
Too sad. On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 12:12 PM, Roger Hui <[email protected]> wrote: > Eugene McDonnell (1925-2010) died peacefully at home in > Palo Alto in the evening of August 17, surrounded by > family and friends. All of us in the APL world owe him > a debt for his pioneering work in APL. > > I recently had the honor of writing the preface to Eugene's > "At Work and Play with J" (a collaborate editing effort of the > J community and a work of which Eugene was very proud). > I reproduce it here because it gives a sense of the man > and his work. > > In my youth, when I was just starting in APL, on receiving > an issue of the APL Quote-Quad I would inevitably and > eagerly first turn to Eugene McDonnell’s “Recreational APL” > column. Through these columns I learned that it was possible > for technical writing to be erudite, educational, and entertaining, > and through them I learned a lot of APL. > > Thus it was with Eugene’s “At Play with J” articles > in Vector. In topics ranging from primes to permutations > to pyramids to pi, with a cast of characters that included > Apter, Black, and Crelle, Jacob and Josephus, > Blanda and Montana and Taylor, and Scholes, the articles > offered up the “smoother pebbles” and “prettier shells” > found while playing on the seashore bordering the great > ocean of knowledge. And we are all beneficiaries > of this play. > > I am pleased that Vector is publishing the collection of > At Play with J as a book. I look forward to being > educated and entertained once more. > > ------------------------------------------------ > > Wikipedia entry: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_McDonnell > > Collected papers and articles: > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/ > > Quotations and Anecdotes: > http://www.jsoftware.com/papers/eem/anecdotes.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
