Norman Thomson's J-ottings is an outstanding series of essays on J published in Vector magazine, based on his long classroom experience in teaching J and its forerunner APL. Norman has collected and rearranged these essays in a book (unpublished), but with his and the BAA's approval, we are now making this series available on the J wiki under the title "Fifty Shades of J", see http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_J .
The material has been converted to wiki format but we want to make sure the examples work correctly in J8 and that each essay is given a thorough review before signing off on it. For this we would like to co-opt the help of forum members, and ask that volunteers take responsibility for checking individual essays. We did a similar exercise a few years back on Eugene McDonnell's series "At Play with J", which went very well. The two series are complementary, with Eugene concentrating on solving specific problems with J, while Norman is more focused on the design and use of the core J language. I hope that we can give Norman's work the same reception as for Eugene! You don't need to be an expert to help out, in fact even a novice can help by checking the examples do work. Moreover, there should something for everyone in each of the essays. The coverage is wide, and (if you're quick) it won't be hard to pick a topic that excites you. You'll gain J insights hard to gain another way, plus lend a hand in polishing this singular work of instruction and entertainment. Our thanks to Norman for making this available, to BAA for approving the work, and to Ian Clark for invaluable help in getting the wiki pages organized. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
