Yes, I'm going and I'm already looking forward to your talk, Devon! I jumped to J from APL in Nov 2006, having completed all the 131 then existing Project Euler problems using Dyalog APL. While doing Project Euler I couldn't help being impressed (and frustrated) by the posts to the forum by J programmers, with their one liners that were totally incomprehensible to me. But it was an intellectual challenge I couldn't resist.
J is still my prime intellectual challenge after 5r2 years. I never program in anything else, but my productivity for run of the mill stuff is slower at the moment than when I was using APL for two reasons: 1. I used APL for 29 years and J is sufficiently different for that wonderful 29 year stock of experience to have lost its usefulness, certainly for me, as I was not content just to write in the same style. I wanted to appreciate Jness. 2. Appreciating Jness is a wonderful experience but it takes time. One must ask whether this investment of time is worth it. I hope the answer is yes, but it depends on how much time is available. Anyway, I have no regrets. J and you people who contribute so generously to this forum give me a lot of pleasure. I love the terseness of J. Every project I do using J I do in Word, writing prose explaining what I am doing punctuated with J code and its results. This really helps me to understand what I'm doing (a basic requirement for every endeavour!) and allows me to understand it again when it is revisited, and to modify it or copy it at a later date. So scripts are an important departure from the APL workspace, which APLers should be interested in. The way J treats rank has been very helpful to me. The concepts of rank that J uses are broader, clearly defined and very versatile. The rank conjunction is so powerful and totally general. Tacit definition is so intriguing I cannot leave it alone. The trouble is, with my background, I would be much more productive if I never used it. But I want to become adept at it. I realise there is a world there of concise expression that I want to embrace. J has a larger set of primitive functions and operators. The on-line documentation is outstanding. It's free, like the air we breath! I hope this helps. I look forward to meeting you on 8 June! Graham > Original message: > Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 15:18:06 -0400 > From: Devon McCormick <[email protected]> > Subject: [Jprogramming] What to say about J to APLers? > To: J-programming forum <[email protected]> > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Members of the Forum - > > I'm supposed to give a 40-minute or so talk at BAPL09. I've chosen as my > topic "The State of SIGAPL and Musings on J": a report on the status and > prospects of the (former) SIGAPL will be followed by a brief > introduction to J and how it continues Iverson's legacy. > > Unfortunately, the SIGAPL portion of this talk shouldn't take more than a > couple of minutes, so I've got to come up with something about J that > would be interesting to a bunch of APLers. I have a few ideas but would > be interested in hearing what people would suggest. > > Also, is anyone else from this forum going? > > Thanks, > > Devon > > -- > Devon McCormick, CFA > ^me^ at acm. > org is my > preferred e-mail > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
