> Being completely new to J, I have new eyes and could, perhaps, add changes
> to the document which would enable the next reader to have a smoother
> session with that document. Shall I do that? Or should I file a report
> somewhere with these changes?
I have a professional interest in novice uptake of computer tools, J
in particular -- and what constitutes appropriate documentation. "New
eyes" are precious -- and we're apt to forget how precious. And
transient.
The rest of us have Rumsfeld Syndrome over how a novice views J
documentation ("unknown unknowns"). It very much depends on where the
novice is coming from, if it's not from APL. Henry's JfC explicitly
addresses C programmers, and from my recollection of C programming
it's spot-on. We need others like that.
Can you please keep notes of your stumbles with the existing
documentation? Feel free to pm me with them. There will be questions
you'll have that you simply would not think to ask in a couple of
months. This does not invalidate them.
Pirsig quotes a 1970s Japanese instruction leaflet: "Assembly of
Japanese Bicycle requires Great Peace of Mind". J too. I don't make
friends on the list for saying this. Learning J demands a lot of the
novice in the first month or so, because you have to un-learn so much.
I'm told that if you know absolutely nothing, J is no more difficult
than any other computer language, and more rewarding than most for a
specific amount of effort.
But IMO much of the effort demanded of the novice is wasted, because
the ladders have missing rungs.
Everyone knows this, and you'll see the J universe littered with good
ideas to fix it, which have not been carried through. Ah well...
volunteers. There's also a cultural addiction to terseness, of which I
fully approve: I much prefer terse opacity to verbose opacity.
To counteract this we have a bunch of nice guys on this list, very
patient, as I can testify. The point was made to me once however that
extensive publication of the sort you suggest in the programming
forum, is largely wasted because it gets buried and forgotten. Best to
get familiar with the J wiki (as recommended indeed in
http://www.jsoftware.com/start.htm) -- and get write-permission so you
can write your novice experiences on your own wiki page. If I know
it's there (just pm me with the link) then I, for one, will certainly
consult it when next I feel the urge to write material for the J
novice.
And, being a wiki, it's easier for you to do small fixups to the
documentation yourself, than file a report for someone's groaning
in-tray.
One thing http://www.jsoftware.com/start.htm doesn't mention is that
JfC is also available in hardcopy from Lulu.com -- but you have to go
to http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/HenryRich to find *that* out. (Or:
http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Books).
@Henry -- could I tempt you to do a lie-flat edition? (I'd buy one.)
Ian Clark
On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 8:42 PM, Christopher McIntosh
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Thank you, Devon, for your prompt reply.
>
> Another problem on this page (towards the end) is that it refers to the
> "Edit|Configure|Display" option to change from the Box display to the Linear
> display. The GtkIDE has an Edit|Configure menu... but there is no "Display"
> option. I expect that this has also changed from previous versions. (??)
>
> After exploring further (after all my goal is to learn), I found a reference
> (in the Dictionary's Appendix) to the 9!: foreign conjunction. I was able
> to use "9!:(3) 5" to accomplish the objective of switching to Linear Display
> mode...
>
> Also, I see that "9!:(49) 1" could have allowed me to use the forms (i.e.,
> "x.", "y.") which had originally caused me problems following along with the
> Primer.
>
> Being completely new to J, I have new eyes and could, perhaps, add changes
> to the document which would enable the next reader to have a smoother
> session with that document. Shall I do that? Or should I file a report
> somewhere with these changes?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
