A Reply to the J2 Review

I was able to build a small application using J for the first time without a great deal of difficulty; it certainly helped me to have spent some considerable time beforehand as an APL application developer. I think that there is quite a gap between theJ Dictionary and what a developer will need to know in order to build significant application-the User Guide and the accompanying script files will help to get people started but there is a need for much more tutorial material. My guess is that it would take a reasonably proficient APL programmer two to three months to reach an acceptable level of proficiency with J. As an APL programmer I feel that I have gained from the experience of looking at J-i t has had an effect which will continue to ripple through into my APL work. IfI had not been an APL programmer before I doubt that I would have foundJ a particularly appealing experience; it is very austere. At this moment I am not sure whether I will useJ further; if I did not have access to the other APL products I am sure that I would, but apart from OLE it does not appear to offer any particular advantages. I would be very happy to see ISI deliver their OS/2 version of J; assuming that they produce a compatible wcl it should be possible to take yourJ GUI applications and run them immediately as native applications. This is a very appealing prospect indeed. Conclusions There is one topic on which ! have been silent so far, and it is dear to my heart. Price. J is an enormous bargain. The personal edition is priced at 5 ° US Dollars; the professional edition (which you would need to purchase if you were making products for sale) costs 5oo US Dollars. All but the most impecunious can afford to purchase a copy and begin writing Windows applications risking only their learning time. • Dick Bowman is a frequent reviewer and a regular contributor to Quote Quad. He can be reached at "bowman@apl.demon.co.uk". W E WOULD LIKE TO THANK DICK for his detailed and careful review of the product, and the editors of Quote-Quad for an opportunity to comment. The version reviewed was 2.03. The current version is 2.05 and version 2.o6 will be released in time for APL95. These releases include several improvements in performance …