

J - A modern, high-level, general-purpose, high-performance programming language - jayro
http://www.jsoftware.com/index.html

======
nmcfarl
So my first question was "Why?", Then after some digging "Why not just use
R?". The best answer I found to that question was on stack overflow:
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1427276/j-programming-
lan...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1427276/j-programming-language-vs-
r-programming-language-vs-incanter) .

Which for me said - "Just use R".

------
stcredzero

        * an integrated development environment
        * standard libraries, utilities, and packages
        * a form designer for your application forms
        * an event-driven graphical user interface to your application
        * interfaces with other programming languages and applications
        * integrated 2d and 3d graphics
        * memory mapped files for high performance data applications
    

This list doesn't strike me as particularly "modern" anymore. I know firsthand
that there are environments from 10 years ago with lists like this, and the
stuff wasn't new and hip even back then!

~~~
gruseom
I don't have to tell a Smalltalker that not-new-and-hip is a poor metric to go
by. The serious anachronism here is the lack of open-source. It's hard to see
how any LFSP can get off the ground that way any more.

~~~
stcredzero
"not-new-and-hip" is always a poor metric for an environment. But it's
relevant for PR that uses adjectives like "modern." (And this includes quite a
bit of Smalltalk PR as well!)

~~~
gruseom
Oh, I see. You were responding to the M-word.

------
silentbicycle
See also: "The World's Most Mind-Bending Language Has the Best Development
Environment" (<http://prog21.dadgum.com/48.html>)

------
omouse
I wish they would call it a notation rather than a language. Language implies
that you can read it like a sentence. We call symbols in math "notation" not
language for a reason.

------
Tichy
Appears to be closed source.

Edit: stricly speaking it seems you can get a look at the source if you pay:
"The price range is from $10,000 to $400,000. Regular updates to our current
source levels are available for separate update fees."

However, what I mean is there won't be a lively community of open source
developers working on J. If the company crashes with that holiday jet, nobody
will go on working on J. To me it is effectively the same as closed source.

------
forkandwait
I wish J were used as an embedded language for solving mathematical problems
within a larger, simpler to read language for input/output etc. Like the way
we embed SQL within Python, or whatever.

------
Zarathu
I love using J when I'm solving Project Euler problems, but other than that,
the language just isn't practical.

~~~
omouse
Yes it is. It solves problem doesn't it? Maybe those problems don't frequently
come up, but I'll be damned if it isn't practical for a niche set of problems.

You may want to change your definition of "practical" so that's it broader
than business applications.

