On Fri, 15 Mar 2013, Ian Clark 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!
This really depends upon the user! My programs make constant use of %.
(Except when I use LAPAC.) And with regard to complex numbers: The reason
I began using J was that, at that time, the APL I had access to (Dyalog?)
did not yet have complex arithmetic, which I *needed* to solve radiation
scattering problems.
That is not to say that the idea of a J core isn't a good idea.
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/
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For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
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For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
