Yes, you can learn J quite nicely on J7. Briefly,:
You will not have the experimental threading features of j9 and there's some performance improvements that you will be missing out on. Also, there's a few primitives on J7 which are no longer primitives on J9. Also, there's a few syntactic constructs (adverb and conjunction forks) which were present on older versions of J which were brought back in J9. Most of that should not matter for learning the core language. I hope this helps, -- Raul On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 4:27 AM Alexander Shendi <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear list, > > Out of sheer curiosity I have downloaded the J7 source and got it to run > under OpenBSD (i386 and amd64) and Linux (amd64 and aarch64). > > My question is: Can I use this implementation for learning J? Basically, what > is the difference between J7 and "modern" J903? > > Thanks in advance, > > Alexander > > Am 11. Mai 2022 20:53:35 MESZ schrieb [email protected]: > >Michael Dykman asked: > >> > >> Can anyone remind me in which year the source code for the J engine was > >> first released as open source? > > > >Since you are asking about the *first* release: > > > >The original J Versions (not "Releases") 4 to 7 (1992 - 1993) are open > >source, with a "2-clause BSD style" license (which I much prefer over > >the current GPL-3 license): > > > >/* J-Source Version 4.1 - COPYRIGHT 1992 Iverson Software Inc. */ > >/* 33 Major Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2K9, (416) 925 6096 */ > >/* */ > >/* J-Source is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. */ > >/* */ > >/* J-Source Version 4.1 license agreement: You may use, copy, and */ > >/* modify the source. You have a non-exclusive, royalty-free right */ > >/* to redistribute source and executable files. */ > > > >You will find this also exactly time-stamped in the "status.txt" file: > > > > Changes in Version 4.1, 1992 2 2 > > [...] > > J source made available > > > >Along with 4.1, Roger's "Implementation of J" documentation was made > >available (not for free until "recently"); all the documentation > >relating to the J back then, in particular the DoJ, existed only as > >printed booklets and had had to be ordered from ISI. > > > >The initial set of engine test cases were released six weeks later, with > >Jv4.2. > > > >Occasionally, I still run J version 5.1 and 7 binaries on the very same > >DECsystem I learned J on: > > > > -rwxrwxr-x 1 neitzel staff 413696 Oct 1 1992 /usr/local/bin/j > > -rwxrwxr-x 1 neitzel staff 307200 Mar 11 1994 /usr/local/bin/j7 > > > >I did some J archaeology just a few days ago and gathered all my > >early J stuff together onto my current desktop machine. This is: > > > >src kits: Versions 4.1, 5.1, 6.2, 7 > > > >I have the DOS binaries for J Version 2 (the APL-90 Copenhagen version, > >aka "j90", the first version released at all), 2.9, 5.1, 6.2, and 7. > >All J Version 2--7 executables could be copied and distributed when not > >made for commercial advantage. > > > >The Univ. of Waterloo FTP archive run by L. J. Dickey used to serve as > >the central distribution point for J binaries, source, and extra stuff > >back then. That original archive apparantly doesn't exist anymore, but > >http://www.sigapl.org/Archives/waterloo_archive/index.html > >exists as "some" copy. You need some perseverance to navigate around > >broken links, though, and find the 6.2/7 srcs and binaries there: > >http://www.sigapl.org/Archives/waterloo_archive/j/early_j/index.html > > > >If you happen to have an executable for J Version 3.x (in particular 3.0, > >the only version having the verbs > > > > m. Mean > > n. Normalize > > s. Spread (STD) > > > >), that would be most appreciated. (Again: J *Version* 3, not J Rel. 3). > > > > Martin > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > -- > Diese Nachricht wurde von meinem Android-Gerät mit K-9 Mail gesendet. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
