Greg - thank you for your feedback - this is very valuable to those of us who have forgotten the problems we faced when first learning J.
Your ideas for some simple introductory materials are good - I'll bring this up at a meeting of NYCJUG and look at what parts of this I can contribute. We do have a regular "Beginner's Regatta" section of our meetings where we attempt to provide simple examples of using J - you might try searching for this term on the J wiki to see if you find anything helpful there. (An aside on the word "regatta" - we chose this name with the idea that a regatta is a kind of parade of different kinds of boats but I see from Wikipedia that the meaning is more about a series of boat races, often accompanied by social events (like a parade). It was this parade idea we meant to emphasize, though we sometimes show timings of various ways of doing things in J, so the "racing" metaphor also works.) Regards, Devon On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Greg Borota <[email protected]> wrote: > I am currently learning J. I think I am beyond a critical point, where > I can no longer see myself giving up on this endeavour, as there is much to > lose professionally otherwise. > > Some initial thoughts: > > 1) Even though I spent most of my time in C land, I would recommend Roger > Stokes' "Learning J" after the Eric Iverson' "J Primer". It felt to me like > J for C starts gently and then all of the sudden you are plunged deep into > advanced stuff without much preparation. While "Learning J" follows more > the spirit of the Primer where new concepts are added more gently. I plan > on going back to J for C after I read the Primer and LJ one more time. > > 2) Roger Stokes has a new version of LJ here: http://www.rogerstokes > .free-online.co.uk/book.htm Shouldn't J site use that instead? > > 3) I am not the first to mention this. I wish there was a minimal J > language core documented/available. I see veterans on this forum saying > things like: "I almost never use some of those verbs". Is there not a > minimal J language core targeting general language use? For example, > leaving out specifics like numerical analysis, statistics, etc. This > might help some not drop by the way side. E.g. http://xprogramming > .com/category/j-language/ > > 4) Whenever it felt like dropping, browsing through papers like "Notation > as a tool of thought" or "Language as an intellectual tool: From > hieroglyphics to APL" helped boost my motivation to stay the course. Maybe > creating a "Why learn J" section on J site where this kind of papers, > articles, etc. are referenced would help many. > > 5) English is not my native language. With the Internet, anything posted > online in English has automatically a global audience. Maybe keeping that > in mind and going easier on un-common/literary English words would help J > adoption some more? It's a pity APL language family are not > more mainstream. I think our profession has much to lose because of the > current state of things. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
