-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 "Drumheller, Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I am brand new to J. (I mean brand new as in, I heard about it for the > first time the day before yesterdy--haven't even gotten through the > first tutorial yet.) Nevertheless, having found out about it via a > mention of K on lambda-the-ultimate.org, I was immediately intrigued. I > work in the Math Group at Boeing (which is effectively an "internal > consulting firm" for applied-math & software) and am always on the Michael, Welcome! Are you in the Puget Sound region, too? If so, that makes at least four of us as far as I know on this list. > 2. I was appalled at the "foo =. 3 : 0" syntax for defining a verb. For real elegance (and hiding from any retorts, for explicit verbs can be elegant, too), check out tacit programming such as the classic first example avg =: +/ % # avg is now a verb, and avg 3 4 5 6 returns 4.5. BTW, to parse avg yourself, you'll have to check out forks. > Thank you for your patience with my Absolute Newbie questions. I'm > looking forward to learning more about J, and I appreciate your help. My best advice: learning J is about like learning a natural language (English, French, German, ...). The best way to do it is to work through material such as the Primer with computer at hand so you can try out expressions as you encounter them. When something doesn't make sense, try dissecting it to see if you can understand a part of it. When something does make sense, try applying it to other arguments to see how far you can take it. In other words, experiment freely, and don't get too far away from your computer. I tried learning by reading, and I was much more successful when I arranged my time so I could learn by writing. There are also a number of good references listed (or given directly) in the J Wiki. Bill - -- Bill Harris http://facilitatedsystems.com/weblog/ Facilitated Systems Everett, WA 98208 USA http://facilitatedsystems.com/ phone: +1 425 337-5541 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (MingW32) Comment: For more information, see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQFEA2hq3J3HaQTDvd8RAqi4AJ4qAupO0ZFBDZhzv2HicaTSVeFZGACeJXdL aWGGqDaxIylh7/9ZgidxMb4= =sYcb -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
