On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Ian Clark <earthspo...@gmail.com> wrote: > Format is a pre-existing addon category. It plays host to Henry's > printf utility, and seems the obvious place for zulu. But my lab just > happens to be the first released in that category. No, the name > doesn't give any clue to its purpose. But nor does fftw, json, mt, ...
Here's the captions for these packages: math/fftw: FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the West) is a collection of fast C routines for computing the Discrete Fourier Transform in one or more dimensions. It includes complex, real, and parallel transforms, and can handle arbitrary array sizes efficiently. The FFTW Add-On consists of a DLL incorporating the FFTW routines, plus supporting J scripts and labs. FFTW and the FFTW package are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information on GNU, see the GNU web page. FFTW is available under Windows and Linux. convert/json: json encoder/decoder. http://json.org/ math/mt: Library to solve some problems in matrix algebra: transforming, decomposing, reducing to condensed form, factorization, equation solving, function applying, condition number estimating. Is based mostly on LAPACK algorithms, but doesn't require LAPACK. format/zulu: Addon: zulu - is a set of strings conversion verbs plus a sandbox of sample data. It is the foundation package for addons: zulu-lite, zulu-bare. format/zulu-lite: Addon: zulu-bare - is a set of strings conversion verbs in _z_. This is the "bare" version, without the "trivials" patch and with no aliases, just the *2* verbs. format/zulu-bare: Addon: zulu-lite - is a set of strings conversion verbs in _z_. This is a "strict" version, with the "trivials" patch, and with verbs: a2*, and aliases: *4*, *4a. This addon differs from addon: zulu by OMITTING the "sandbox" (locale: _zulu_) with its test data and handy utilities. Most of these packages either include names which are easy to search on. One includes urls for additional information. Zulu though... why would I want to "convert a string"? Most of the captions on the zulu packages assume I already know what zulu is, and instead are telling me implementation details about the differences between them. What I want to know, typically, is what it is. The detail stuff belongs in documentation inside the package (or on a web page elsewhere, which you can refer to). Also, most of the time, when I use a package, I want "the full package". The cut down stuff is for rare specialized occasion. So if it were me, I would: 1. Try to explain the purpose of the package (at least enough that a user could look up the names). 2. Combine everything into one package. To get the cut down variants, it might be worthwhile describing somewhere what can be erased. Thanks, -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
