It would be good to get J into this project. 2012/2/6 Skip Cave <s...@caveconsulting.com>
> I think we missed a key point i was trying to make (likely I didn't explain > it well enough). > > With a web tutorial, DON'T teach "J" - - teach math. Think of Iverson's > "Concrete Math Companion". Take Khan's math tutorials and produce labs that > follow along with Khan's videos. Check out Khan's Algebra tutorials (and > all the other math-oriented ones) at: http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse > > It would be fairly easy to make simple J labs that follow each Khan video, > expanding on the fairly narrow examples in the Video. > > Iverson's "Concrete Math Companion" starts out by explaining some basic J > notation. I'm not sure that is necessary, at least initially, for the Kahn > supplementary labs. Encouraging lots of direct execution experimenting, > with the occasional exposure to a new "shortcut" could be a big help to > the student, who would be learning array noration without realizing it. A > liberal use of direct execution for most of the initial classes would > probably be a good approach. > > You don't even need to mention J, at least at first. Typing 2 + 3 and > getting 5 doesn't need an intro to J to perform the addition. For that > matter, you could simply explain J's extension of the primitives to arrays > as a "shortcut" for experimenting. > > Thus 3 + 1 2 3 4 5 showing a result of 4 5 6 7 8 could be explained as a > "shortcut" to get the answer to multiple additions, without having to type > + each time. A similar explanation could be used with +/, all without ever > mentioning J as a programming language. > > Imagine two tabs on your browser - one tab will show Khan's video, and the > other tab open to a J labs session running a lab associated with that > specific Khan video. The student watches the video, and then steps through > the lab. New video, new lab (or the next step on the same lab). > > Ideally, all the J labs would be hosted on a cloud server with fairly > restrictive limits (memory? execution time?) for each session, so the > student wouldn't have to go through the pain of setting up a J http server > and getting all the add-ons loaded on their own machine. The student should > simply have to click on a link on the J Software site (or ideally on the > Khan site) to launch the Khan-focused J labs in a new browser tab/window. > > After all, isn't this one of the main reasons that J Software went through > all the effort to separate J's UI from the computational engine - to allow > remote J execution? It would be fairly inexpensive to rent a virtual server > from Amazon EC2 ($20-$30/mo for a small system) or Microsoft's Azure, to > host the J computational server, and it would be easy to expand, if traffic > got heavy. > > Skip > > > > On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Dan Bron <j...@bron.us> wrote: > > > Hmm. I could do a basic intro to J course at one of the NYC JUGs. If we > > broadcast & record it, we could then post it on youtube. > > > > The question is: who is the audience? What do they already know about J? > > What do they want to know? > > > > -Dan > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: programming-boun...@jsoftware.com > > [mailto:programming-boun...@jsoftware.com] On Behalf Of William > Tanksley, > > Jr > > Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 10:43 AM > > To: Programming forum > > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Demise of @ and [: debate > > > > I'd love to see a youtube class on J. I'd download every episode as it > > aired to my phone and watch it on the train, using my computer to do > > experiments and take notes. That's what I do with "njwilberger" > > rational trig and hyperbolic geometry lessons. > > > > -Wm > > > > On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 6:57 AM, Skip Cave <s...@caveconsulting.com> > wrote: > > > A methodical approach to teaching J might be to group the primitives > into > > > groups of similar functionality. Order these groups by complexity > (simple > > > to complex), as well as perhaps ranking them by familiarity with > > > already-learned concepts from traditional math classes, most familiar > > > first. > > > > > > With a learning sequence defined, spend a class on each group of > > > primitives, starting with the simplest and most familiar functions > (+-*%, > > > or perhaps = =. =:), and progress to the most complex and unfamiliar > > > functions.You should probably start with direct execution, and > introduce > > > verb creation after a few classes on basic primitives. Some class time > > > should be spent on how to read and understand the vocabulary > definitions. > > > > > > Homework for each class would focus on usage of that current classes' > > > primitives, with previously-covered primitives thrown in for good > > measure. > > > The homework problems should be constructed to not require primitives > > that > > > haven't been covered yet (though nothing would prevent an advanced > > student > > > from looking ahead and trying them). > > > > > > It would be interesting to create an online J class, much like the Khan > > > Academy on youtube. In fact, if you really wanted to introduce J to the > > > masses, create a math tutorial that follows and supports Khan's math > > > tutorials, using J as the tool. This would be similar to Iverson's > > > "Concrete Math Companion" which follows 'Concrete Mathematics' (Graham, > > > Knuth, and Patashnik (GKP)). > > > > > > Just a thought.. > > > > > > Skip > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Björn Helgason, Verkfræðingur Fornustekkum II 781 Hornafirði, t-póst: gos...@gmail.com gsm: +3546985532 twitter: @flugfiskur http://groups.google.com/group/J-Programming Tæknikunnátta höndlar hið flókna, sköpunargáfa er meistari einfaldleikans góður kennari getur stigið á tær án þess að glansinn fari af skónum /|_ .-----------------------------------. ,' .\ / | Með léttri lund verður | ,--' _,' | Dagurinn í dag | / / | Enn betri en gærdagurinn | ( -. | `-----------------------------------' | ) | (\_ _/) (`-. '--.) (='.'=) ♖♘♗♕♔♙ `. )----' (")_(") ☃☠ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
