J labs (as of summer 2026)

[Raul Miller]

Recently, my frustration level with my own initiative and with some
labs (which have been withdrawn for lack of attention) has pushed me
to try and work through various issues.

One of these issues is the state of the documentation on how to author labs.

My current sticking point (and the reason I am posting this message)
has to do with https://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Labs/The_lab_Verb which
currently says:

lab n run line n
lab n m run lines n through m (to max script length)

However, testing this (using the "Rotations" lab, it looks like lab n
(for positive integer n) tries to select chapter n, and it's not clear
to me what lab n m is about.

I suspect - since chapter selection has a different documented
interface - that this should be treated as an implementation issue
rather than a documentation issue.

And, quite possibly (given the current state of affairs) I should
volunteer to maintain the code to deal with this issue (and plausibly
others).

That said, before jumping into any of this, it would probably be wise
of me to ask for other informed views on how these things should be
tackled.

For example:
(*) does anyone rely on lab n or lab n m?
(*) Do people here have a stymied interest in lab authoring, where
it's plausible that cleanup efforts might help move things forward?
(*) Has anyone noticed other examples where documentation has not
matched behavior in the context of J labs?
(*) Does anyone have a favored "lab authoring workflow" that they
would care to share?

I am still in the process of looking things over, but I do not want to
get stalled on research. Still, if it looks like I am overlooking a
readily available resource, I also wouldn't mind a few pointers.

Thanks,

--
Raul

[Devon McCormick]

Hi Raul - I've only used the labs a few times and may occasionally refer back to one or another but am unsure how useful they really are.

Have others had more experience with them?

Regards,

Devon

Devon McCormick

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[Raul Miller]

Devon, I have used the labs at various points. I am currently trying
to update a lab which was dropped (so that it can be used on recent
versions of J) because I found it useful.

That said, labs are documentation. Since the scope of the language is
broad, it should be entirely expected that some documentation covers
topics which some people do not engage with.

Thanks,

--
Raul

[Remington Furman]

Hi Raul,

I'm glad you're looking into this and bringing it up.

I have used the labs while learning the language.  I think they provide a lot of useful examples.

I have been thinking about writing my own simple lab about digital signal processing.  I've been curious how they are written, but I have not looked up the documentation for writing them yet.

If/when I get around to writing my own, I can share notes on sticking points.

Thanks,

Remington

On 5/31/26 2:48 PM, Raul Miller wrote:

Devon, I have used the labs at various points. I am currently trying
to update a lab which was dropped (so that it can be used on recent
versions of J) because I found it useful.

That said, labs are documentation. Since the scope of the language is
broad, it should be entirely expected that some documentation covers
topics which some people do not engage with.

Thanks,