shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) (04/22/91)
Could someone (Roger?) post something about what the differences are between
successive J versions? For example, I believe 3.0 is now available for
the PC, but only 2.9 is available for the Iris.
In general, is it one of the following possible kinds of differences?
A. The language design is frozen and fully implemented; new versions improve
the quality of the implementation.
B. The language design is frozen, but not all parts of the design are
implemented in earlier versions; newer versions implement more of the
language.
C. The language design is still evolving; new versions contain newly
conceived features. There are two possible subsets of this:
1. The language is growing by accretion; new versions add to the
facilities provided by older versions.
2. Even earlier features are continually being re-thought, and may change.
Some general comments along these lines, and perhaps extrapolating to "where
J is going," would be most welcome.
Thanks,
-P.
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Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027
(212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet)
***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."***hui@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Roger Hui) (04/24/91)
0. The latest version is not available all machines, because we have ready access only to some machines (and the Iris, being rather expensive, is not one of them); because our resources are limited; and because there are only 24 hours in a day. 1. If you don't have the latest version, then it is a bit difficult to find out what the differences are between the latest version and the version you have on hand. But then, the differences would not affect you. If you do have the latest version x, then the file "status.doc" included with the package describes briefly the changes from one version to the next, up to version x. status.doc also has items marked "NYA", not yet available. These tend to be items already in the dictionary, but not yet implemented. Current NYA items of note include: E. (interval search), p. (poly roots), c. (characteristic vectors and roots). 2. The most visible and inconvenient differences between versions tend to be the spelling changes. We don't make spelling changes lightly, but such changes do happen. 3. I should hope the language design is still evolving. (Only dead languages aren't.) Certain core ideas have remain constant for a long time (since APL\360 and before). ----------------------------------------------------------------- Roger Hui Iverson Software Inc., 33 Major Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2K9 (416) 925 6096