Time to "master" dictionary reading depends on how many different words one must understand, but this includes how many related definitions and concepts one must comprehend in order to understand the definition.
That said, I would never ever expect a student to learn solely from the dictionary. Do we have grammar school students learn english by giving them a copy of a good dictionary and asking them to read it? Why not? -- Raul On Sat, Feb 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM, Linda Alvord <[email protected]> wrote: > I remember fondly how Ken loved to read the unabridged dictionary. Richness > of the language and the derivations of the words was a joyous experience > for him. The J language has this same richness. > > For students coming to the language with years of mathematical background > in abstract algebra, calculus, differential equations and the like, they > are ready t o jump easily to abstract combinations. > > I keep thinking in terms of the long time it takes high school students to > master functional notation like f(x) and g(x). > > > To get from t1 to t2 requires and "idiom" x u&v y ↔ (v x) u (v y) > > t1=: 13 :'(2{.x)$(;y)/:;</.i.x' > t2=: 13 :'(2{.x)$y/:&;</.i.x' > > So although t1 is longer than t2, t2 is more condensed and compex. This > is why I say easier: > > t1 > (2 {. [) $ ([: ; ]) /: [: ; [: </. [: i. [ > t2 > (2 {. [) $ ] /:&; [: </. [: i. [ > > The condensed spacing of /:&; gives away the increased complexity of the > second tacit version. > > My guess is that you would spend less time reading the dictionary to master > t1 than t2. > > Linda > > -----Original Message----- wo > From: [email protected] [mailto:programming- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Raul Miller > Sent: Friday, February 01, 2013 9:20 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] inverse oblique > > How do you define "easier"? > > In my opinion, it's easier to go from simple (fewer tokens) to complex > (more tokens), but also someone has to write the code to do the > transformation and until that's been done even this concept of "easier" can > be indistinguishable from "can't be done". > > -- > Raul > > On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 5:05 AM, Linda Alvord <[email protected]> > wrote: >> If t1 is easy tacit and t2 is advanced tacit, wouldn't it be easier >> for J to figure t2 from t1 than it is for me? >> >> t=: 5 7 2 ?@$ 1e6 >> s=: $t >> x=: </.t >> t1=: 13 :'(2{.x)$(;y)/:;</.i.x' >> t-:s f x >> 1 >> t2=: 13 :'(2{.x)$y/:&;</.i.x' >> t-:s g x >> 1 >> t1 >> (2 {. [) $ ([: ; ]) /: [: ; [: </. [: i. [ >> t2 >> (2 {. [) $ ] /:&; [: </. [: i. [ >> >> Or is that just wishful thinking? >> >> Linda >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Roger >> Hui >> Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 1:49 PM >> To: Programming forum >> Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] inverse oblique >> >> t -: (2{.s) $ x /:&; </.i.s >> 1 >> >> >> >> On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 10:47 AM, Roger Hui >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> t=: 5 7 2 ?@$ 1e6 >>> s=: $t >>> x=: </.t >>> >>> t -: (2{.s) $ (;x)/:;</.i.s >>> 1 >>> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 10:28 AM, Raul Miller >> <[email protected]>wrote: >>> >>>> Let's start with an arbitrary array: >>>> >>>> A=: i. 2 3 >>>> >>>> We can box oblique lines from this array: >>>> >>>> </. A >>>> +-+---+---+-+ >>>> |0|1 3|2 4|5| >>>> +-+---+---+-+ >>>> >>>> However, the interpreter does not currently provide us with an >>>> inverse for this operation: >>>> >>>> </.inv </. A >>>> |domain error >>>> >>>> One problem is that you cannot uniquely determine the first two >>>> elements of the shape of the original array by inspecting </.'s >>>> result: >>>> >>>> (</. 5 7$0) -: </.7 5$0 >>>> 1 >>>> >>>> If its shape is provided, how might we reconstruct the original array? >>>> >>>> [For the sake of simple code, it's ok to focus on numeric, rank 2 >>>> arrays.] >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Raul >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> - >>>> - For information about J forums see >>>> http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.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 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.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
