[Jprogramming] Fifty Shades of J

[Henry Rich]

I think it's a mistake to leave it to individuals.  Spacing really makes 
a difference to readability.

Using a special font and something to set off the J code would help.  
Maybe have a gray background box around code.

I think

(+/ % #) y

with something to set it apart would be easier to read than

(+/%#) y

with nothing.

Henry Rich



On 5/26/2018 4:25 PM, Ian Clark wrote:
> Can I recommend these prettyprinting conventions apply only to J code
> blocks, i.e. between tags <pre>…</pre>?
>
> Inline J within narrative text (<tt>…</tt>) is something else altogether.
> It is fraught with readability issues and often demands creative solutions.
> If there's one general rule, it is: have as few spaces as possible. Thus:
> i.0 is better than i. 0. Apart from anything else it avoids unwanted
> line-spills.
>
> Code spacing is from now on the responsibility of the individual
> code-testing volunteers.
>
> Ian Clark
>
> On Sat, May 26, 2018 at 6:30 PM, Henry Rich <henryhrich at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I agree with all those suggestions.  I would add a space before the LHS of
>> assignment, and I would allow extra spaces around parentheses to make it
>> easier to match parentheses by eye.
>>
>> Henry Rich
>>
>>
>> On 5/26/2018 10:33 AM, 'Pascal Jasmin' via Programming wrote:
>>
>>> I'd like to see a different spacing convention.
>>>
>>> space between verbs and their arguments.
>>> space after assignment but not with the LHS.
>>> space between verbs in trains.
>>> No space if possible between modifiers and verbs.
>>> The convention used throughout topics appear to be no spaces ever.
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: chris burke <cburke at jsoftware.com>
>>> To: Programming forum <programming at jsoftware.com>
>>> Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2018 10:24 AM
>>> Subject: [Jprogramming] Fifty Shades of J
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Norman Thomson's J-ottings is an outstanding series of essays on J
>>>
>>> published in Vector magazine, based on his long classroom experience in
>>>
>>> teaching J and its forerunner APL. Norman has collected and rearranged
>>>
>>> these essays in a book (unpublished), but with his and the BAA's approval,
>>>
>>> we are now making this series available on the J wiki under the title
>>>
>>> "Fifty Shades of J", see
>>>
>>> http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_J .
>>>
>>>
>>> The material has been converted to wiki format but we want to make sure
>>> the
>>>
>>> examples work correctly in J8 and that each essay is given a thorough
>>>
>>> review before signing off on it. For this we would like to co-opt the help
>>>
>>> of forum members, and ask that volunteers take responsibility for checking
>>>
>>> individual essays.
>>>
>>>
>>> We did a similar exercise a few years back on Eugene McDonnell's series
>>> "At
>>>
>>> Play with J", which went very well. The two series are complementary, with
>>>
>>> Eugene concentrating on solving specific problems with J, while Norman is
>>>
>>> more focused on the design and use of the core J language. I hope that we
>>>
>>> can give Norman's work the same reception as for Eugene!
>>>
>>>
>>> You don't need to be an expert to help out, in fact even a novice can help
>>>
>>> by checking the examples do work. Moreover, there should something for
>>>
>>> everyone in each of the essays. The coverage is wide, and (if you're
>>> quick)
>>>
>>> it won't be hard to pick a topic that excites you. You'll gain J insights
>>>
>>> hard to gain another way, plus lend a hand in polishing this singular work
>>>
>>> of instruction and entertainment.
>>>
>>>
>>> Our thanks to Norman for making this available, to BAA for approving the
>>>
>>> work, and to Ian Clark for invaluable help in getting the wiki pages
>>>
>>> organized.
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
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>>>
>>
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