> Take a J primitive which is relatively simple but maybe hard for a > beginner to intuit, like monadic "=" (self-classify). Not something > with bells and whistles like ";:". Personally I'd like to see an > animation of self-classify, because coming from APL I'm still not > altogether comfy with it in my own mind.
Use + (plus). It'd be so "obvious" that the viewer/reader would think "How else would you have it?" 2 + 3 5 2 + 3 4 5 5 6 7 20 30 10 + 7 27 37 17 20 30 10 + 3 4 5 23 34 15 20 30 + 3 4 5 |length error | 20 30 +3 4 5 i. 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 + i.3 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 20 40 60 + i.3 4 20 21 22 23 44 45 46 47 68 69 70 71 (i.3 4) + 100 200 19 100 101 102 103 204 205 206 207 27 28 29 30 20 40 60 80 + i.3 4 |length error | 20 40 60 80 +i.3 4 (i.3 4) + (10 + i.3 4) 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 p.s. I believe that the current monadic = is not one of the better verbs in J. The representation is wasteful, being approximately O(n^2), and if the representation is wasteful then the implementation is necessarily wasteful. For self-classification i.~ is much better. Moreover, the "key" adverb (not available at the time the monad = was first defined) has made a self-classification verb much less needed. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ian Clark <earthspo...@googlemail.com> Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 8:59 Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] The Ambiguous Dictionary To: Programming forum <programming@jsoftware.com> > URL embedding is something I must leave to others. I'd be starting > from cold as regards Moinmoin. Maybe we should simply fall back on > html? Remind me why we need anything fancier. > > Voice-over I have strong feelings against. Distracting, ineffective > and culturally dependent. Traditional and reassuring maybe, but only > in your own mother tongue, accent and mannerisms. Nothing going for > it. > > And I say that as an ex-lecturer (and courseware developer). > > Use soothing music. It's only wallpaper. And then only in a YouTube > showcase, not in a serious expository text. > > The same goes for moving text, or "titles" as I think movie makers > call them. Only good for identifying the footage, like a > clapper-board. The effort to read it can distract the viewer > from the > object you want him/her to attend to. There will always be > accompanying text. I think the purpose of animation in technical > exposition is to convey spatial concepts non-verbally. Therefore > verbiage is nothing but a distraction. > > I like your use of coloured dots. It conveys succintly that the > content of a given cell doesn't matter: just the interplay between > cells. If you use numbers, or even letters, the viewer wastes > brain-cycles processing these before grasping they are of no > importance. If you need more modal dimensions: shape and size. As > regards shape, chicks and tadpoles may be slightly better than squares > and circles, but one must balance being boring against being > distracting. I'd err on the "boring" side to start with, and > spice-up > judiciously. People assume animations have got to be Loony > Toons. But > someone prepared to consider programming in any language, let > alone J, > needs an attention-span longer than a 5 year old TV watcher. > > The viewer may have to study the animation for quite some time to > absorb its principle. Eye candy soon gets irritating. See the > "grasshopper escapement" animation, halfway down in > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison -and work out how it > manages to be friction-free. Jiminy Cricket would soon begin to grate. > > Further to that example, I think continuous animation loops are good. > (Though it's nice to be able to stop 'em!) > > Take a J primitive which is relatively simple but maybe hard for a > beginner to intuit, like monadic "=" (self-classify). Not something > with bells and whistles like ";:". Personally I'd like to see an > animation of self-classify, because coming from APL I'm still not > altogether comfy with it in my own mind. > > And remember the better it conveys its message, the more trivial and > "obvious" it looks and the less time the viewer spends looking > at it. > It's why writers of public notices are always too pompous and prolix: > they don't want to appear dumb. It's really quite unrewarding > work, in > a way. > > Ian > > > On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 5:56 AM, bob therriault > <bobtherria...@mac.com> wrote: > > Thanks for the review, Ian > > > > It definitely needs to be sped up and, although music could be > added, it was going to be finished with a voice over and sound > effects. I hadn't got around to final version, but when I read > Oleg's comment about animation, I exported the 'work in > progress' to YouTube. YouTube does provide a string for > embedding, but I didn't think it would work within an email. > > > > I would be happy to work on animations as they were needed for > specific primitives. My experience says that there is a certain > level of fundamental understanding that is required before > animations are really effective, before that they tend towards > eye-candy (or worse misleading). If you have a primitive in mind > let me know and we can go through some iterations to see how > productive we are. > > > > Cheers, bob > > > > ps. you can put videos into J labs as well, by using the > jbrowser file and calling specific URL's hiding it within the > PREPARE section. > > eg. > > PREPARE > > launch_jbrowser_ 'http://www.apple.com/ca/ipodtouch/what- > is/pocket-computer.html' > > PREPARE > > It has been a while since I have done this and the result is > that a whole browser window will open, but when refined this may > have some possibilities. I'm not as sure how this will work with > the new browser interface. bt > > > > On -Feb1-2010, at -Feb1-20106:43 PM, Ian Clark wrote: > > > >> I like it, Bob. > >> > >> The minimalism may arise from it being a first effort, but it shows > >> it's neither necessary nor wise to over-egg the pudding. > >> > >> Minor crits: could do with being sped up. Needs music. > YouTube has a > >> library of free soundtracks: you can just attach one for now. > >> > >> YouTube movies can be easily embedded in your own html file. > Stefano & > >> I have done it. They generate you an <object> to > copy/paste. See > >> source of http://www.maxclark.me.uk/undeadtree/interspex.htm > for an > >> example. > >> > >> But how to do it with MoinMoin? > >> > >> So... are you offering to do a 15 second movie for each J > primitive?>> > >> Ian > >> > >> > >> On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 10:08 PM, bob therriault > <bobtherria...@mac.com> wrote: > >>> Hi Oleg and Ian, > >>> > >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODxv498p4ME > >>> > >>> This isn't about a specific function, but is an animation i > put together to explain why it is useful to organize information > into arrays. I developed it on keynote, but haven't yet put a > soundtrack to it. It's not really high end, but it wasn't too > hard to put together either. Let me know if you have more > specific ideas for animations. > >>> > >>> Cheers, bob > >>> > >>> On -Feb1-2010, at -Feb1-201012:50 PM, Oleg Kobchenko wrote: > >>> > >>>>> From: Ian Clark <earthspo...@googlemail.com> > >>>> > >>>>> > >>>>>> One winning instructional strategy, including Gilman and Rose, > >>>>>> is telling a story for each piece of material. Such stories, > >>>>>> among other things, may revolve around exo-paradigms. > >>>>> > >>>>> When I used to program in FORTH (sign of a mis-spent > youth) one > >>>>> well-beloved primer in the FORTH community was illustrated with > >>>>> engaging but instructive cartoons. Thus the standard word > SWOP was a > >>>>> little two-headed dragon that did what you'd guess with > objects on the > >>>>> stack. Can anyone remember the book and remind me of its title? > >>>> > >>>> Starting FORTH, by Leo Brodie > >>>> > >>>> http://www.forth.com/starting-forth/sf2/sf2.html > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> This is fun stuff all right. And a good read for a vacation. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> What I was thinking for APL/J for a long time was > >>>> an interactive or animated illustrator of the operations, > >>>> especially those that manipulate multidimensional and > >>>> nested structures. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>> I know someone (http://www.leelamaria.com/) who could do > us a wodge of > >>>>> cartoons like that. Shall I try to get them interested? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
