Building Jcon is simple if the requisite software is available. Automated tests are provided to validate the build.
Jcon is written in Icon, Java, and Korn Shell.
Building and running Jcon requires various Unix utilities including
the Korn Shell.
Any system that has /bin/ksh will probably work.
Most commercial Unix systems supply ksh,
and the ksh clone on Linux also works.
Jcon requires a recent version of Icon and version 1.1 of Java. Prebuilt binaries of these are available for many platforms. Installation of Java may require system privileges, and proper functioning of some Java systems may require installation of OS patches.
For software see:
Icon 9.3: http://www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/v93u.htm Java 1.1: http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/
Executables of icont, javac, java,
and jar must be in the search path
to build the Jcon system.
Only java is needed to run jcont or the
executables it produces.
Ensure that your search path is correct, as described above.
Set your current directory to the top level of the Jcon distribution,
and type make.
There are no configuration options.
When the build completes, the bin directory contains
everything needed to run Jcon.
It can be used in place or copied elsewhere.
The html directory, which contains documentation,
is also worth keeping.
The rest of the Jcon distribution can be deleted if no longer wanted.
After building Jcon using icont,
it is possible use Jcon to rebuild itself.
This optional step is accomplished by typing make jj;
it enables the use of jcont -J.
The Jcon test suite includes new tests written for Jcon, old tests
from the Icon v9.3 distribution, and a few Icon applications.
The tests are run by typing make test.
A successful run produces the names of the tests, one at a time, as they run.
In addition to the automated tests, Jcon comes with additional
tests that can be run manually.
The demo directory contains graphics programs that
are interesting as demonstrations.
The gtest directory contains other graphics programs
that are less interesting and require visual comparison
with the displays produced by Version 9 of Icon.
The expt directory contains a few additional
nongraphical tests and experiments.
The subdirectories within the Jcon tree are as follows:
bintarget for all build products; also includes jcontscripttransource code for the translator jconsource code for the run-time system htmlfiles for building documentation pages testautomated test collection for validating Jcon gtestmanually run test collection for graphics demodemonstration programs utilizing graphics exptother tests and experiments to be run manually bmarkbenchmark collection
Each directory contains a README file with further information.
The Jcon home page is located at http://www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/jcon/. Go there for the lastest versions of the implementation and documentation.
Please send all Jcon-related mail to jcon@cs.arizona.edu. Using this alias helps us log the mail and respond more promptly.
The home page for the Icon language is located at http://www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/.