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 Unix shell scripts.
Building and running Jcon requires various Unix utilities including a POSIX shell in /bin/sh. Most modern Unix systems (including Mac and Linux) will work. It may be necessary to install “developer” packages.
Jcon requires recent versions of Icon and Java. Prebuilt binaries of these are available for many platforms.
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 www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/jcon. Go there for the lastest versions of the implementation and documentation.
Please send any comments to icon@cs.arizona.edu.
The home page for the Icon language is located at www.cs.arizona.edu/icon.