I've been following this thread with some interest. I am constantly learning programming languages and the best advice is to just wade in and tackle something you find interesting. It's a given that your first few projects will reflect your incomplete grasp of things.
One of the things I have always found a bit intimidating, and sometimes irritating about APL and derived languages, is that now matter how clever you find something within minutes of showing off your deep thought someone will pipe up with a deeper thought. I have come to view this as a great strength of this class of languages. We are finally seeing the same phenomena in LINQ and F#. Iverson was a good generation ahead of his time. Just do it. It works well here. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 15, 2013, at 5:09 PM, Ian Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > There used to be a range of (spoken) language CDs with names like > "Learn Swedish Now!" "Learn Arabic Now!" > They were designed to a common format. One extremely useful feature > was a list of "The 100 most-used words in the language", ranked in > order of usage. > > Inspired by this, I once extracted from my own scripts a list of J > primitives ranked by usage. But I've lost the results. I do recall > they surprised me. > > This could be the basis for a coding challenge -- a rather easy one if > you use (;:) -- write a verb (or a script) which scans a folder of > scripts and builds a table of primitives ordered by usage. Then > perhaps we could all run it on our own "j-user" folders and compare > results :-) > > BTW In the 1970s I was offered a tape for research: the 2741 keystroke > log of a busy IBM APL shop. In the space of a year, "Domino" (⌹ -- > equivalent to %. in J) was keyed-in precisely twice. Once as a typo. > And once as a filler-char for a crude histogram. > > ...And Domino was touted at the time as the flagship feature of APL! > > > On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 5:43 PM, km <[email protected]> wrote: >> Here's a shot at specifying a J core by deleting things from the Vocabulary >> page. >> >> --Kip Murray >> >>>> << Usr Pri JfC LJ Phr Dic Rel Voc !: Help Dictionary >> >> Vocabulary ( Constants Controls Foreigns Parts of Speech ) >> >> = • Equal =. Is (Local) =: Is (Global) >> < Box • Less Than <. Floor • Lesser Of (Min) <: Decrement • Less >> Or Equal >>> Open • Larger Than >. Ceiling • Larger of (Max) >: Increment • Larger >>> Or Equal >> _ Negative Sign / Infinity _. Indeterminate _: Infinity >> >> + Conjugate • Plus +. Real / Imaginary • GCD (Or) +: Double • Not-Or >> * Signum • Times *. Length/Angle • LCM (And) *: Square • Not-And >> - Negate • Minus -. Not • Less -: Halve • Match >> % Reciprocal • Divide >> %: Square Root • Root >> >> ^ Exponential • Power ^. Natural Log • Logarithm ^: Power (u^:n u^:v) >> $ Shape Of • Shape >> $: Self-Reference >> ~ Reflex • Passive / Evoke ~. Nub • ~: Nub Sieve • Not-Equal >> | Magnitude • Residue |. Reverse • Rotate (Shift) >> >> >> >> >> : Explicit / Monad-Dyad >> :: Adverse >> , Ravel • Append ,. Ravel Items • Stitch ,: Itemize • Laminate >> ; Raze • Link >> ;: Words >> >> # Tally • Copy >> >> ! Factorial >> !: Foreign >> / Insert • Table >> /: • Sort >> \ Prefix >> \: • Sort >> >> [ Same • Left [: Cap >> ] Same • Right >> { • From {. Head • Take {: Tail • >> } • Amend (m} u}) }. Behead • Drop }: Curtail • >> >> " Rank (m"n u"n) ". Do • ": Default Format • Format >> >> >> @ Atop @. Agenda @: At >> & Bond / Compose &. &.: Under (Dual) &: Appose >> ? Roll • Deal ?. Roll • Deal (fixed seed) >> >> a. Alphabet a: Ace (Boxed Empty) >> b. Boolean / Basic >> >> >> >> e. • Member (In) >> E. • Member of Interval >> >> >> i. Integers • Index Of i: Steps • Index Of Last I. Indices • >> Interval Index >> j. Imaginary • Complex >> >> >> NB. Comment >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>>> << Usr Pri JfC LJ Phr Dic Rel Voc !: Help Dictionary >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> >> On Mar 15, 2013, at 10:27 AM, Greg Borota <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> 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/ >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> 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
