NYCJUG/2010-10-12

Language Slapdown suggestions, APL2010 Berlin, Windiff replacement, XML handler, where J is mentioned, what new software developers should know

Location:: the Heartland

Agenda for NYC JUG 20101012

1. Beginner's regatta: planning for the "Language Slapdown" next month -
see "Suggestions for Language Slapdown.pdf".


2. Show-and-tell: thoughts from APL2010 in Berlin last month - see
"Some Notes on the APL2010 Conference in Berlin.pdf", "APL2020 Panel Discussion-Notes
on Where We Should Aim.pdf" and "APL in 2020.pdf" (from last month).


3. Advanced topics: Windiff replacement project -> XML/HTML handler?
See "WinDiff Limitations.pdf" and "XML Handler Wanted.pdf".


4. Learning, teaching and promoting J, et al.: where J is mentioned and
is not mentioned - see "JMentioned-NeedsToBeCaredFor.pdf".

See also "What Should We Teach New Software Developers.pdf" by Bjarne
Stroustrup.

Beginner's regatta

File:Suggestions for Language Slapdown.pdf Some thoughts on how best to present a purely postitive case for J in five minutes to a technical audience unfamiliar with the language.

Show-and-tell

Some Notes on the APL2010 Conference in Berlin (also File:Some Notes on the APL2010 Conference in Berlin.pdf): a brief write-up of a couple of the talks and a comment on the talks of the Dyalog programming contest winners.

APL in 2020 - possible discussion topics raised in advance of the panel at the conference and some notes on where we should aim to promote thriving APL environments in the year 2020.

Here is the code from my talk.

Advanced topics

Some ideas for basic, generally useful tools we ought to be able to write to showcase J.

File:WinDiff Limitations.pdf Some shortcomings of the otherwise useful tool "WinDiff" - another common task that can be well-handled in J.

File:XML Handler Wanted.pdf Shortcomings of common XML-handling tools - we ought to be able to do a better job of this in J.

Learning, Teaching and Promoting J

File:JMentioned-NeedsToBeCaredFor.pdf Some websites where J is mentioned or ought to be mentioned - as a community, we need to take care that it is well-presented. The following is a note from Raul with annotations I've added to adapt it to the wiki and short descriptions (in brackets) of the websites.

from	[[User:Raul Miller|Raul Miller]] <rauldmiller@gmail.com>
date	Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 5:06 PM
subject	[Jchat] Places where J is mentioned that might need attention

J is mentioned here but I am not sure that anyone is putting any energy into the examples:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Algorithm_Implementation/Index [Wikibooks "Alogrithms' Implementation site.]

http://golf.shinh.org/lranking.rb [A language ranking page on which J is fairly high up.]

http://ja.doukaku.org/ [Can't tell about this] (needs someone fluent in japanese).

http://en.literateprograms.org/LiteratePrograms:Welcome [Though I personally think "literate programming" is a half-baked notion, it seems to have captured the fancy of a number of people and J should at least put in an appearance.]

http://progopedia.com/ [A web-based encyclopedia of programming languages.]

J does not seem to be mentioned here but I have not studied it enough to determine if it should be:

http://sicp.org.ua/sicp [Site dedicated to the popular book "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by Abelson and Sussman]

http://hyperpolyglot.wikidot.com/ [Since J has a natural audience among programming language polyglots, we should make it known on sites like this.]

http://pleac.sourceforge.net/ [A "cookbook" of various algorithms presented in various languages - a good forum to showcase J's strengths.]

http://www.refactory.org/ [Useful code snippets - a category in which J can excel.]

http://www.codepoetics.com/wiki/index.php?title=Topics:SICP_in_other_languages [Site seems currently (20101016) compromised....]

http://merd.sourceforge.net/pixel/language-study/syntax-across-languages/] [A cross-language syntax comparison site.]

Perhaps this of interest to someone with time, energy or wanting to exercise their J abilities? [End of Raul's post]

On another topic... File:What Should We Teach New Software Developers.pdf Essay by Bjarne Stroustrup on the shortcomings of contemporary computer science instruction - how it fails to teach programmming well.

Scan of Meeting Notes