On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 1:29 AM, Tracy Harms <[email protected]> wrote: > How can we participate in function-oriented programming discussions, > which are multiplying rapidly and gaining prominence, while avoiding > the confusions that arise if the depth of difference between J and the > alternatives is not appreciated? I'm not expecting an answer to emerge > quickly, but I do want to place the question before us.
Should we participate in them? If you want to participate in them, you probably need to immerse yourself in their fundamentals. This means, to some degree, you have to abandon J and abandon questions of suitability and usefulness and focus on whatever their core issues happen to be. Once you have done this, you can then participate rather freely in those discussions. But, when the discussions themselves are about issues you do not really care about -- when their positives are mostly rhetorical and not practical -- do you gain something of use by participating? Of course, people do put in good work, regardless of where they started from. And mathematicians in particular tend to be very good at working with abstractions and manipulating systems. But if you want a solid mathematical background, I would think going for it directly would be the best approach. If you happen to be exposed to some particular computational tools in the process, that can be great. (Just realize, again, that you will again have to abandon J when picking up new ideas, just as you would have to abandon english if you were taking classes from a french speaking teacher. Only after you properly understand the concepts can you deal with the issues associated with translating them -- though, of course once you translate the ideas you may understand them better.) Put differently, sometimes you spend time learning stuff you were not originally interested in. -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
