Ric Sherlock wrote: IMO this is the target audience that the project is trying to reach: A newcomer to J has been "hooked" enough to try and write some code. They have a specific task in mind and think they know which primitive will help. They look up the primitive in the wiki Vocabulary to see if they are right and if so how to use the primitive. Their background isn't necessarily programming, but they probably have some previous experience with programming languages.
Skip replies: This is a good target definition. However, I still believe that there will also be a significant number of "toe-dippers" who have stumbled across some J code, or saw J demonstrated somewhere, and just want to investigate a bit further. With the wrong introductory approach, there is a high possibility that we will scare them off right at the start, with a litany of unfamiliar terms and familiar terms with new meanings. I'm not talking about 11-year olds, or the programming dilettante here. I'm talking about professional programmers who can't figure out what the heck we are talking about. If we can overcome that initial language barrier, it won't take long for even a toe-dipper to become intrigued with the power of J, and there is a good chance we can make a convert out of them. I want to make sure that we keep that initial language barrier low. This is why I tend to focus on the entry points to the language tutorials. Its hard enough to grasp the underlying array fundamentals of J without having to learn a whole new terminology at the same time. If we can ease the language barrier by hyperlinks and pop-ups, we will make the beauty of J easier to view. Skip Cave ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
