Thanks for the mention Dan, I've just added a more detailed (though shorter :) ) screencast of the Reflexive Adverb [1] Comments and feedback is always welcome. I see the current efforts as explorations.
At some point in the future, the resources may need to be brought together for a more integrated approach to education/advocating/evangelising the use of the J programming language. This doesn't mean I think the existing resources (labs, demos etc.) aren't amazing, but rather they might be enriched with the technologies that are now available. Cheers, bob [1] Reflexive Adverb http://bobtherriault.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/reflexive-adverb-monadic/ On 2010-11-21, at 5:15 PM, Dan Bron wrote: > Ian wrote: >> can't believe [a tacit-to-explicit translator] >> hasn't been done already. > > It is not so surprising. When you want it, you cannot make it. And when you > can make it, you no longer want it. > > For the subset that can make it and still want it, it is somewhat difficult > to remember exactly what you wanted. For example, where is it appropriate > to cut a tacit one-liner into smaller chunks to be distributed among several > lines in the resulting explicit definition? Certainly not at every @ . > Etc. > > On my J todo list for several years has been a J "coach" similar to the > "Regex Buddy" at [1]. I've just never got up the initiative to do it. On a > more promising front, Bob Therriault has recently been building web videos > that demonstrate certain J primitives and tacit expressions graphically [2]. > > Personally, I learned tacit by writing, rather than reading, a lot of it. > J's default interface encourages this habit; it is productive & fun to build > programs in the IJX window, which effectively limits you to one line. Using > IJSes & flipping back and forth was enough of an additional friction that I > never developed a taste for explicit code and its multiple lines. But > having written enough, I also find tacit easy to read. Whether it's easier > or harder than explicit (or than Java, or English, etc) depends on the > application. > > -Dan > > [1] Regex Buddy: http://www.regexbuddy.com/regex.html > [2] Bob's animated explanation of J adverbs: > http://bobtherriault.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/those-tricky-adverbs/ > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
