Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!src.honeywell.com!The-Star.honeywell.com!umn.edu!csus.edu!sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu!emclean
From: emclean@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Emmett McLean)
Subject: Help write a J FAQ
Message-ID: <1993Feb16.081517.7301@csus.edu>
Sender: news@csus.edu
Organization: San Francisco State University
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 08:15:17 GMT
Lines: 45


I hope to compile an FAQ which will answer questions questions 
about programming in J. Ideally it would provide readers of
comp.lang.apl with all the information they need to pick up the 
fundamentals of programming in the language. I would like
your input about what (and which) questions should be asked and
your suggestions and answers. There is obviously alot of material
I can draw upon in the archives at watserv1 so I suspect I may 
borrow from Mr. Hui, Mr. Rockwell, Dr. Dickey, Mr. Sirlin and 
others. Erik at ISI is encouraging this at my suggestion.

Questions which might be addressed are:

1.  What is J? What does it offer that other languages do not?
2.  What are the primitive functions (verbs) ? I would like to experiment
    and determine if I want to register as a user.
3.  How do I write simple functions (explicit and tacit explanations)?
4.  Why J and not APL (because of new control structures and new operators)
5.  Why APL and not J (because APL has nicer symbols wider following etc..)
6.  Where can I ftp to get it?
7.  What publications by ISI are available, what do they demonstrate,
    and how much do they cost?
8.  How do I register a copy, especially if I live in Europe and don't
    have US dollars ?
9.  What future developments might we see?
10. What are the benefits of tacit definition? Is tacit definition better?
11. Is there is list of idioms for which I can compare APL and J solutions?
12. How do I reassign or the rows of the columns of a table ( aka matrix)?
13. How do I multiply the rows and columns of a table?
14. Does J support nested boxing? How does it compare to APL2?
15. Is there an example where a C function of intermediate complexity
    such as a SVD routine or FFT has been implemented via a foreign
    conjunction? (*I could really user your help here!! *)
16. How do I use Emacs as a session manager for J on a UNIX box?
    What are the fundamental emacs j-interaction-mode commands?
17. Is there a library of programs, aside from the tutorial
    which I can study (e.g. Dr. Smilie's Statistics)
18. What is the gray bar? How do I read text files and load programs
    into the interactive environment?

We could end up with a several page FAQ.

Thanks,

Emmett
