I learned J before the appearance of Henry's cheat sheet. At that time I constantly looked at the back cover of J dictionary which is now the webpage ~help/dictionary/vocabul.htm You may also print that page on a paper for easy reference.
I also got a mouse pad with the same Voc page printed, but unfortunately its black color font on a dark green background made it very hard to read. Пнд, 01 Ноя 2010, Ian Clark писал(а): > Thanks Ric. Pure gold. > > A few comments in-line... > > Ian > > > On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Sherlock, Ric > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Ian, > > > > Firstly I like the idea of the article - IMO it fills a bit of a void in > > the current available documentation of a higher level overview on how to > > use/work in the J environment. There is really good stuff on the details of > > the language itself, but not so much on the environment. > > > > Some suggestions/impressions: > > > > CALC=: noun define > > Using this format (rather than 0 : 0) means that the form editor will no > > longer recognize your noun as a form and won't let you edit it. It would be > > nice if the form editor were a bit smarter and recognized both formats but > > it doesn't. Might be worthwhile pointing out that trade off to the reader. > > That fact had escaped me. Rather vital, that. > > > "handler define" - I can see the advantages of this in helping document > > your app, however the noun "handler" isn't defined by default in the J > > standard library and doesn't seem to be defined in calc.ijs so I end up > > with a "domain error: define" when I try to run the calc.ijs window. > > I'm going off the idea. > The novice is likely to need "crutches" which the standard > installation doesn't provide. This isn't really one of them. > > > I would suggest that you highlight to your reader any of the things that > > you have found useful additions to the J environment and show them how they > > can add them to their own installed environment, that way it will be clear > > that these are things that they shouldn't expect to be available in every J > > session. Alternatively you could concentrate on introducing the reader to > > the J environment as it is and save those customizations for a separate > > article - "Tips and tricks for customizing/improving the J environment". > > I'm already thinking of an article: J: The Morning After. > I'll need clearer distinction between what comes as standard and what > are my add-ins. That was the idea of handy.ijs, but the notion hasn't > quite got off the ground. > > > I think in an earlier edition you mentioned that the words noun, verb, > > conjunction etc were all defined in the stdlib.ijs. The J6.02 version of > > this script contains a lot of comments and descriptions, I'd recommend > > suggesting to the reader to open and inspect the script: > > open '~system/main/stdlib.ijs' > > Didn't know that about the comments. Is that version of stdlib still > available -- say in the wiki? If I locate it, I might put it there, > just to support the article. > > > These comments are (unfortunately IMO) removed from the stdlib.ijs script, > > and other distributed scripts in the J701 beta. > > > > Although monadic ". (Do) corresponds better with APL's {execute} function > > my preference would be to use dyadic ". (Numbers) in the verb eval to > > convert the string to a number. Eg: {. 0 ". '0',y > > Wondered about that. I was planning a more elaborate 'eval' anyway. > But as it stands, it invites extension -- and that was the idea. I > could write a section just on (".). But it's too specialised for the > (narrow) scope of the article -- and anyway the APLer has been through > all of it before, with APL. > > > As a reader I'm not a fan of the tinyurls used as references in the > > article, they break up the train of thought and don't have any meaning in > > and of themselves and so don't give me any idea of what I'm going to get > > when I click on them. I'd much rather the links be hyperlinked text (not > > urls) describing/referring to the resource, and using the correct URL in > > the reference enables me to mouseover the hyperlink and see a meaningful > > URL. > > I'm experimenting with TinyURLs. They have little value in the wiki, > but a lot (IMO) in a printed article, where they take the place of > (numeric) references. The idea was, they're easy for a beginner to jot > down in a notebook. They are resolved in the Reference list at the > end. However the Vector editor may scratch the lot of them and replace > them by straight reference numbers, [1], [2], etc. That's not hard to > do. Might do it in the wiki too. It's a decision I can defer. > > > As an APL user who started using J in 2007, I'd disagree with any advice > > that APL knowledge is of no use and that APL users should start from > > scratch - something you also believe in, hence the article. In my early J > > learning journey I found Henry Rich's J Reference card indispensible for > > helping me find the appropriate word to accomplish the operation I was > > after. Because not all the J words have APL equivalents it is a useful > > addition/extension to the APL2J phrasebook. > > Disappointingly, I found the J Reference card a lot less use than I'd > hoped it would be, and soon gave it up. Back in the days when we Brits > had to learn Russian for scientific purposes, you could get the entire > Russian grammar on a single laminated card. I've still got it. But you > have to know a lot of Russian already before it's much use. > > This is not to say that others won't find it useful, so I'll give it > more prominence. It's all very much my idiosyncratic view of what's > useful in the available J training material -- and what isnt. (Roger's > not speaking to me any more.) > > What's really needed to support the article is to finish off NuVoc. > > > Thanks again for this fine contribution to the community! > > You're welcome. Thanks for the encouragement. > > > Ric > > > >> From: Ian Clark > >> Sent: Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:28 > >> > >> http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/JinaDay > >> > >> Thanks to all for crits, and for provocative & instructive > >> discussions. It doesn't escape me that a lot of people have really > >> spent time to debug it. > >> > >> 1st draft done. Extensive edits. Most people's suggestions > >> incorporated (I've not checked everyone's is in, but I will). Demo app > >> CALC somewhat improved, behaviour more intuitive, focus problem > >> hopefully solved. Correct (?) use of the term "array" -- which has > >> proved useful after all. > >> > >> LOBROW will need some spit&polish before final publication. Ditto > >> handy.ijs. > >> > >> Haven't checked that all weblinks are actually used in the text. On > >> the other hand there may be more that ought to be mentioned. Virtually > >> no mention of the J Primer, which IMO is an omission. > >> > >> Ian > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm -- regards, ==================================================== GPG key 1024D/4434BAB3 2008-08-24 gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 4434BAB3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
