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From: libes@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Don Libes)
Newsgroups: net.lang.apl
Subject: Re: APL is so popular!
Message-ID: <26@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 18:44:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: nbs-amrf.26
Posted: Thu Oct  3 18:44:27 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 07:25:39 EDT
References: <61200001@trsvax> <16640@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: National Bureau of Standards
Lines: 22

> > Aren't interpreted languages popular?!
> 
> Yes, interpreted languages are popular!
> 
Its not that they're popular, its that they're more fun.

And C programmers are going to discover this any day now.  I just
completed a review of 3 C interpreters and I'm getting several more to
look at.  These interpreters behave just like APL or Lisp, in that they
are completely interactive.

I won't mention the advantages of APL here - that would be pointless,
but having a C interpreter means you can take your development code and
compile it into very fast code, you don't need a large runtime, you
don't use funky symbols and you can interface easily with the rest of the
universe.  

On the other hand, so what?  C programmers finally have the same tools
that APL programmers had 20 years ago.  But when is APL going to move
forward?

Don Libes       {seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!libes