Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!psuvax1!vu-vlsi!mckee From: mckee@vu-vlsi.Villanova.EDU (Bruce McKee) Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl Subject: Re: Is APL a dying language? Summary: There are several non-STSC APL's for the Macintosh Message-ID: <2044@vu-vlsi.Villanova.EDU> Date: 2 Dec 88 01:13:32 GMT References: <13635@cisunx.UUCP> <1938@water.waterloo.edu> <723@convex.UUCP> <18@kepler1.UUCP> Organization: Villanova Univ. EE Dept. Lines: 22 STSC is not the only source for Macintosh APLs. Check back issues of MacTutor - I recall an article that listed 4-5 different products. There was STSC, Spencer Organization, a product called MacAPL, and some public domain product from France. The article talked about STSC's APL in the most detail, but gave references to the other entries. Regarding: "Is APL a dying language"? I disagree. I learned APL back in 1985, and I find it invaluable as both a prototyping language and a way of thinking, particularly if you must map algorithms onto parallel hardware (SIMD machines, array processors, etc.). For example, the Connection Machine has certain operations that nicely map into APL operators. Result: algorithms prototyped in APL can be easily re-written in parallel C and Fortran. APL would go much further if there were standard ASCII keywords for each operator (I can type words faster than remembering the symbol positions). Also needed are standard graphics and math libraries. These additions would greatly improve APL's acceptance. -Bruce McKee Villanova University >These are my opinions - your mileage may vary.