Subj : APL2 for OS/2
To : Ray Hyder
From : David Noon
Date : Sun Jun 03 2001 01:55 am
Hi Ray,
Replying to a message of Ray Hyder to David Noon:
DN>> APL is a language developed by Dr. Kenneth Iverson of IBM in the
DN>> early 1960's. It was designed for teaching formal mathematics,
DN>> primarily matrix algebra. It is written right-to-left, not
DN>> left-to-right, and uses Greek symbols [Z-code, not ASCII or EBCDIC]
DN>> quite extensively for its mathematical operators. Most people find
DN>> it impenetrable, and one must use it fairly frequently to remain
DN>> fluent.
RH> David, APL is possibly the wost language ever developed for the
RH> computer.
It depends what one is doing.
RH> BTW: APL means A Programming Language
That is actually the title of Iverson's original paper defining the abstract
language. Nobody at IBM could think of a better title [that could be
published!] for the language, so APL stuck.
RH> One must also have an APL keyboard. Or a PC keyboard reconfigured for
RH> APL.
Not so. I use ISI's APL/386 here using a standard 102-key Logitech keyboard.
[ISI = Iverson Software Inc., of Toronto, Ontario] The way that interpreter's
IDE works is that it maps scan code combinations into the exotic Z-code
characters. This makes for some Liberace-style keyboard work, but it serves the
purpose.
However, the original S/360 implementation did use an IBM 2741 "golf-ball"
terminal (hard-copy at 150 baud!) with a custom golf-ball and a custom
keyboard; the comms interface had to know Z-code too. No other output medium
was supported until APL print chains became available for the IBM 1403 line
printer.
RH> Impenetrable? APL is the only language I've ever seen where the
RH> person that wrote the line of code could not explain what it did one
RH> day later.
Many times a lot *less* than a day!
Regards
Dave
<Team PL/I>
--- FleetStreet 1.25.1
* Origin: My other computer is an IBM S/390 (2:257/609.5)
