APL Frequently Asked Questions (well some, anyway)
Maintained by S.W. Sirlin
Thanks to the many people who have contributed to this list.



New in this version: minor updates, new format. Thanks to work by Bob Hoekstra, the primary format for this faq will be html, though a text version will be distributed to the newsgroup.

The questions I'm answering here are:

1. Where can I find APL for machine X?
2. How do I use APL on an XX terminal connected to machine YY?
3. What about APL keyboards/stickers?
4. Can I compile APL?
5. What tools exist for APL?
6. Can I get an APL font for X?
7. What information exists online about APL?
8. How do I get book Y?
9. What good APL books exist?
10. What user groups exist?
11. What's the latest APL conference?
12. How do I pass APL functions from one APL to another?
13. How do I write APL using only ASCII?
14. Where can I find APL employment information?



For the (text) latest version available, see ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/ (where all the autoposted faq's are archived), in particular ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/comp.lang.apl/APL_language_FAQ. The latest html version of this faq is at http://www.izap.com/~sirlin/apl/apl.faq.html

(1)   Q: Where can I find APL for machine X?
A:
APL SOURCES


APL\11
APL\11 is a freely available APL interpreter for UNIX (C), thanks to Michael Cain. Currently has some bugs. See also openAPL below. Port to FreeBSD available (email: sam@kalessin.jpl.nasa.gov)
ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/apl-11
email: mcain@advtech.uswest.com.

APL2000
(formerly sold by Manugistics/STSC):
APL+PC, APL+DOS, APL+UNIX, APL+Win (for Windows 3.1, NT, 95),
APL+Link, APL+Link Pro,
APLSE for DOS (freeware, no printed documentation or support)

APL+ Consulting Services
APL2000 Inc.
6610 Rockledge Drive, Suite 502,
Bethesda Maryland USA 20817
Main Phone: (301) 564-5020
Sales Phone: 609-734-9692 Sales Fax: 609-734-9644
Support Phone: 301-564-5027 Support Fax: 301-564-5021
Consulting Services Phone: 609-734-9621
email: sales@apl2000.com
support@apl2000.com
consult@apl2000.com
http://www.APL2000.com


APL.68000
Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, IBM RS/6000, Mac level I/II, add in board for IBM pc's, PowerMac:

In North America:

Spencer Organization
24 Wampum Road
Park ridge, NJ USA 07656
Phone: +1-201-307-9099, Fax: +1-201-307-9404

For the rest of the world:

MicroAPL Limited
South Bank Technopark
90 London Road,
London UK SE1 6LN
Phone: +44-171-922-8866 Fax: +44-171-928-1006
email: microapl@microapl.demon.co.uk
email: microapl@applelink.apple.com
WWW: http://www.microapl.co.uk


APL92
APL92 (Mac, system 7.1), older APL90:
ftp://ftp.emse.fr/pub/lang/apl/

Jean-Jacques Girardot
School Mines
St-Etienne, France
email: girardot@cambur.emse.fr

APROL
APROL (Scheme/J mix):
For information (7/15/98):
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~jhowland/aprol.paper.ps
email: jhowland@ariel.cs.trinity.edu

CAPLIB2
CAPLIB2 (Linux, DOS, HPUX, can be ported to other Unix) GPL interpreter, C library

Thomas Glen Smith
3154 W. Shady Lane
Neenah, WI
email: 76207.3343@CompuServe.com
ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/CAP/

Rainer J. H. Brandt succeeded in geting CAPLIB2 to compile under NetBSD and Solaris; see http://www.ph-cip.uni-koeln.de/~rbrandt/apl/

email: rbrandt@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de


D4
D4 (IBM PC, Windows). Unix like shell for windows
The shell is writen in D4, a dialect of APL
Anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.webstrand.org/d4/

DEC
DEC (VAX APL V4.0):

Digital Equipment Corp.
Maynard, MASS, USA



Dyalog APL
Dyalog APL (Win 95/98, Unix/Motif, Windows 3.x):

Source:

Dyadic Systems Ltd.
Riverside View, Basing Road, Old Basing, Basingstoke
Hampshire RG24 7AL, UK
Tel: 011-44-(1256) 811125 Fax: (1256) 811130
email : support@dyadic.com
CompuServe: 100136,1473
http://www.dyadic.com

US Distributor:

Beautiful Systems Inc.
308 Old York Road, Suite 5
Jenkintown, PA 19046 USA
Tel: (215) 886-2636 Fax: (215) 886-4888
Compuserve: 73567,1016

Canadian Distributors:

Strand Software, Toronto
The Braegen Group, Toronto

Finnish Distributor:

Dinosoft Oy
Lonnrotinkatu 21 C
00120 HELSINKI, Finland
phone: +358 9 70028820, fax: +358 9 70028824
email: dinosoft@dinosoft.fi
http://yritys.kolumbus.fi/dinosoft/

German Distributor

APL Software Team GmbH
P.O.Box 1307
61243 Usingen
Phone 49 6081 68380 Fax 49 6081 68580
http://www.aplteam.de


FreeAPL
IBM PC, MS Windows, version of APL\11

Tauno Ylinen, email: tylinen@mits.mdata.fi
http://www.pyr.fi/apl/


I-APL
IBM PC, Mac, some other PCs (free*):

In the US (may require lots of patience):

Edward M. Cherlin
Co-Chairman, I-APL Limited
6611 Linville Drive
Weed, California, USA 96094-9763
Phone: (916) 938-4684, Fax: 916/938-3229
email: Cherlin@snowcrest.net

In the UK:

Anthony Camacho
Co-Chairman, I-APL Limited
11 Auburn Road
Redland
Bristol BS6 6LS UK


IBM APL2
APL2 for PC DOS, OS/2, Windows 95, Windows NT, RISC System/6000,
Sun Solaris, and IBM mainframes, plus TryAPL2 for PC DOS (free*)

APL Products
IBM Santa Teresa, Dept. RENA/F41
555 Bailey Avenue
San Jose, California 95141, USA
Phone: 408-463-APL2 (408-463-2752), FAX: 408-463-4488
email: apl2@vnet.ibm.com
CompuServe: go IBMAPL2
IBMMAIL: USIB6JN8

http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/apl
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com,
IBM support site. Look in /ps/products/apl2

From 1-800-IBM-CALL or 1-800-3-IBM-OS2:
APL2 for PC DOS:
    In North America, 5799-PGG, PRPQ RJ0411, Part No. 6242936
    In Europe, Program Product 5604-260, Part No. 38F1753
APL2 for OS/2, Entry Edition, is part number 89G1556
APL2 for OS/2, Advanced Edition, is part number 89G1697
APL2 for Windows is part number 4229558
AIX APL2/6000 is Program Number 5765-012
APL2 for Sun Solaris is Program Number 5648-065
APL2 for CMS/TSO is Program Number 5688-228
APL2 Application Environment for CMS/TSO is Program Number 5688-229

IBM APL2 for the P/370 (Mainframe VM/ESA on a PS/2) [11/98]
Interprocess Systems, Inc.
http://www.interprocess.com/


J & APLIWIN
J (for DOS, Linux, Windows, Mac, RS/6000, Sun) & APLIWIN (for Windows),

Produced by:

Iverson Software Inc.
33 Major Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2K9
Voice: 416-925-6096 Fax: 416-488-7559

Distributed by:

Strand Software
19235 Covington Court
Shorewood, Minnesota 55331, USA
Tel: 612-470-7345 Fax: 612-470-9202
Web: http://www.jsoftware.com
email: info@jsoftware.com


K
K, K-lite; an APL derivative (?)

Kx Systems
Palo Alto, CA
http://www.kx.com


MacAPL
Macs (?) version 2.11 (I don't know much about this yet)

Michael C. O'Connor
Leptonic Systems Co.
405 Tarrytown Rd., White Plains, NY 10607
(914) 682-0377
version 1.13
ftp://ftp.uwtc.washington.edu/pub/Mac/Programming/Languages/ (no longer: ftp://ftp.ens.fr/pub/mac/hqx/ )


APL*PLUS II/VMS, Statgraphics
Manugistics (formerly STSC):

Manugistics
2115 East Jefferson St.
Rockville, Maryland, USA 20852
Phone: 800-592-0050, 301-984-5000, 301-984-5412, 301-984-5123
Fax: 301-984-5094
email: support: answer@manu.com
international: intl@manu.com
BBS: 301-984-5222


openAPL
New (11/98) version of apl\11 (above). Alpha release, under GPL (free source). Ported to Linux/X11
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/devel/lang/apl
Branko Bratkovic, South Australia.
email to branko at senet dot com dot au


SHARP APL
SHARP APL (MVS, AIX, SunOS, Solaris); also Viewpoint, LOGOS, Mailbox:

Soliton Associates Limited (Formerly I. P. Sharp Associates)
44 Victoria St, Suite 2100
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1Y2
Phone: (416) 364-9355 Fax: (416) 364-6159
email: sales@Soliton.COM

Soliton Associates, Inc.
1100 University Ave., Suite 111
Rochester, NY 14607
USA
Phone: (716) 256-6466 Fax: (716) 256-6469

Soliton Associates Limited
Groot Blankenberg 53
1082 AC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 646 4475, Fax: +31 20 644 1206
email: ljh@soliton.com
http://www.soliton.com


Q'Nial
NIAL Systems Limited
366 King Street East
Suite 540
Kingston, Ontario
K7K 6Y3
http://www.nial.com/
email: info@nial.com




(2)   Q: How do I use APL on an XX terminal connected to machine YY?
A:
Terminal Emulation


Apex Computer Specialists
APL Key Boards and key caps for MG800/T7000 terminals, for WICAT/MCS systems, as well as terminal with both the ASCII and APL character codes.

Bert Arias
Apex Computer Specialists, Inc.
1502 West 400 South, Suite #2
Orem, UT 84058-5100
Phone 888-887-2739, Ext. 3357
Int.l 1-801-223-3357
Fax 801-223-9955
e-mail: barias@apexcs.com


Chameleon
Chameleon TN3270 for Windows, networks, IBM 3179G and 3192G emulation, SAA, APA graphics.

NetManage
10725 De Anza Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014, U.S.A.
Phone: 408/973-7171
Fax: 408/257-6405
email: Donna@NetManage.com


EXTRA!
EXTRA! Extended for DOS or EXTRA! for Windows.
Includes APL2 character set in both. DOS product works under Windows.

Attachmate Corporation
13231 S.E. 36th Street
Bellevue, Washington 98006 USA
tel. (800) 426-6283
(206) 644-4010 in Washington State


IBM Terminal Emulator
IBM Terminal Emulators with APL Support:
AIX: AIX X-Windows 3270 Emulator/6000 (X3270) Program Number 5765-011
DOS/Windows: PC/3270 Version 3, Version 4 9/30
OS2 Extended Services Communications Manager: Includes the CMAPL Application Aid. Requires APAR fixes after the Graphics Engine CSD is installed.
OS2 Communications Manager/2 (CM/2): APL Support is available in Version 1.11

IRMA
IRMA (PC) ??

Digital Communications Associates, Inc. 1000 Alderman Drive Alpharetta, Georgia 30201-4199 USA tel. (770) 442-4000


Kermit
Dyalog APL reportedly has a tweaked kermit for APL/X 6.x. This supports APL characters on a PC (DOS or DOS session under Windows) when running APL on a Unix box.

RUMBA
RUMBA (for 3270, APL and graphics)

Wall Data
17769 NE 78th Place
Redmond WA 98052-4992
206-883-4777

rxvt
OpenAPL has support for X11 terminals, but this may not match character orderings for other APLs.

Sun
Sun reportedly has a very good emulator for SunOS 4 and Solaris 2 which emulates an IBM 3179G APA colour graphics terminal.

TN3270
TN3270 (Macintosh) Not public domain, but may be freely distributed. Works with TCP/IP

Anonymous FTP from BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU (128.148.128.40):
Distribution files are in the highest level directory. Begin by retrieving the file $README.FIRST which describes the other files.

Anonymous FTP from FTP.NCSA.UIUC.EDU (128.174.20.50):
Distribution files are contained in the directory NCSA_Telnet/tn3270. Same files as above above for BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU.

BITNET distribution from LISTSERV@BROWNVM:
Send LISTSERV the command GET TN3270 PACKAGE. GET LOCAL FILELIST for a complete list of available files.

Mail order from Brown for $20 (check payable to Brown University):

TN3270 Distribution
Brown University Computer Store
P.O. Box 1885
Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA

Info -- the NCSA Telnet Digest subscription:
request@ncsa.uiuc.edu.


YTERM
YTERM For PC, supports IBM, VAX, TCP/IP with APL/APL2 chars.

Yale University Computing & Information Systems
Software Distribution
175 Whitney Avenue
New Haven CT 06520
Tel: (203) 432-6600 Fax: (203)-432-6165

LISTSERV@YALEVM


Z-Stem
Z-Stem, a series of VT (e.g. VT240) emulators, for MSDOS PC/VAX-11

KEA Systems
3738 North Fraser Way, Unit 101
Burnaby, British Columbia
Canada, V5J 5G1
(604) 431-0727




(3)   Q: What about APL keyboards/stickers?
A:
APL Keyboards/Keycaps


APL keyboard
IBM/Lexmark keyboard, part no. 60G3571 or KB-571, (Professional 101-key keyboard about $90)
APL2 Keycaps, US and UK base set (about $46) SX80-0270
APL2 Keycaps, German Upgrade to SX80-0270 SX80-0452
APL2 Keycaps, German Upgrade to SX80-0270 SX80-0453
APL2 Keycaps, French Upgrade to SX80-0270 SX80-0454
APL2 Keycaps, Italian Upgrade to SX80-0270 SC33-0604
APL2 Keyboard Decals (about $13 for set of two)

Keycaps and decals are "publications" - order at 800-879-2755

Keyboard stickers, custom replacement key caps
Hooleon Corp.
P.O. Box 230
Cornville, AZ 86325
Tel: (602) 634-7515
Fax: (602) 634-4620


Keyboard stickers
APL2000 Inc. (see above address)



(4)   Q: Can I compile APL?
A:
Compilers


APL to C
APL to C conversion and compiler - I've heard this is out of business these days.
Sofremi-AGL
6. rue Paul Bert
92800 Puteaux - France
(1) 47.72.25.13 + Telex: 612 651 F


IBM 370 APL*PLUS
Manugistics compiler for IBM 370 APL*PLUS, documented in APL '85.
see Manugistics listing above, or email aplsales@manu.com.

Experimental:

APEX
Robert Bernecky's APEX compiler:
Snake Island Research Inc.
http://home.ican.net/~bernecky
email:bernecky@eecg.toronto.edu

APLc
Tim Budd's APLc:
anonymous login to ftp.cs.orst.edu, cd users/b/budd, or http://www.cs.orst.edu/~budd and look under books. (latest C++ version unavailable?)

Sam Sirlin's current modification (3.28) of Budd's older aplc: (mostly flat apl, ported to Sun4/5, Freebsd, Atari, Linux, Dec Alpha)
See http://www.izap.com/~sirlin (under construction) or send mail to sam@kalessin.jpl.nasa.gov asking for it


A list of references on APL compilation is available ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/bibliography/compilers.html or comp_ref.doc, from http://www.izap.com/~sirlin



(5)   Q: What tools exist for APL?
A:
Other tools for APL


Dino database for huge amount of data,
Saurus tools for multidimensional databases
Dinosoft Oy
Lonnrotinkatu 21 C
00120 HELSINKI, Finland
phone: +358 9 70028820, fax: +358 9 70028824
email: dinosoft@dinosoft.fi
http://yritys.kolumbus.fi/dinosoft/

IEDIT (APL2 editor),
AFM file system,
APL2 tools
Interprocess Systems, Inc.
http://www.interprocess.com/

Insight Systems
SQAPL, an interface to SQL databases via ODBC or SequeLink, a spreadsheet manager, and a number of other APL tools available for many APL systems.

Insight Systems ApS
Nordre Strandvej 119A
DK-3150 Hellebaek
Denmark
Phone: +45 42 10 70 22
FAX: +45 42 10 75 74
insight@inet.uni-c.dk


APs for Dyalog APL for Windows
Auxiliary Processors for Dyalog APL for Windows

Lingo Allegro USA, Inc.
6749 S.Westnedge Ave, Suite K-268
Phone: +1 312 203 4926
Fax: +1 708 459 8501
Internet: 71303.3224@CompuServe.com
http://www.lingo.com

Computer Aided Instruction
Computer Aided Instruction, for PC or mainframe IBM. Also a newsletter.

Zark Incorporated
23 Ketchbrook Lane
Ellington CT 06029 USA



(6)   Q: Can I get an APL font for X?
A:
Besides commercial products that come with the interpreters, there are:

  1. Fonts for TeX, laTeX, the X windows system, postscript, and truetype (windows) are available. See ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/fonts/

  2. Truetype fonts for windows are available from ISI.

  3. Truetype fonts Dyalog APL and Vector APL are available gratis, if you send a blank, formatted disk:
    Adrian Smith
    Brook House, Gilling East, YORK
    England -- U.K.
    (See his article in the April 1993 issue of VECTOR journal)

  4. STSC, now Manugistics, used to distribute a rom chip with the APL characters for use in old monochrome adapters (now almost extinct). There's also code called SIMCGA.COM, that makes an old Hercules act like a cga (itself pretty old).

  5. Fonts from several vendors are available for use (free of charge) in preparing articles for APL Quote Quad, APL conference proceedings, or other educational articles. This can be found on the ACM SIGAPL Web site. Word processing Templates to aid the author in preparing articles for conference proceedings or for submission to APL Quote Quad can also be found on the ACM SIGAPL web site.

  6. Paul L Jackson's pljtools.zip contains DOSAPP.FON which if put in the Windows\Font directory, will provide an 8x16 APL font for a DOS window. This should work for various MS Windows products and APLSE. This is available at waterloo and Sam Sirlin's home page.

  7. For web browsers, see Vector's site for a free ttf font (for pc's) http://www.vector.org.uk/aplfont.htm Dyadic has a .fon font (for pc's) I don't know how to make this work for X though yet.


(7)   Q: What information exists online about APL?
A:
Online information, free* APLs & WS

  1. Archived APL/J files:

    The BBS\APL is no longer in operation. However, its 50 megs of selected files are now available by mail or email. Send your request for an email copy of the BBS\APL file catalog (66k) to dick.holt@juno.com.

    The catalog lists workspaces and information files for APL*PLUS, IBM APL2, TryAPL2, J, ISI, Sharp, Dyalog, on-screen APL lessons and documentation for APLSE, cryptography, APL in French, APL Conference Software, I-APL, and more.

    Some of this software may also be available at: ftp://watserv1.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/Welcome.html

  2. Anonymous ftp servers:

  3. Web (WWW) html servers:

  4. Mail servers

    listserv@listserv.unb.ca (listserv@unb.ca), in the list APL-L, archives of comp.lang.apl ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com - mail access to waterloo, gatekeeper

  5. Mail servers/lists BITFTP@PUCC.BITNET - access to waterloo

    Access to the APL-L on bitnet from the internet can be done via mail:

            To: listserv@unb.ca
            Subject: SUBSCRIBE APL-L
            SUBSCRIBE APL-L
    DyalogAPL t-chan@u-aizu.ac.jp for Dyalog users
    APL-ERS APL-ERS@IRLEARN.BITNET UCD APL Interest Group "virtually extinct"
    APL-L APL-L@UNB.CA, APL-L@UNBVM1.BITNET (broken?) APL Language Discussion (mirror of comp.lang.apl)
    APLEDU-L APLEDU-L@UNBVM1.BITNET APL in Education

  6. Inquiries about the ISO APL standards should be addressed to your national standards body, or to any delagete from your country. If you can not find out who that is, you may ask Lee Dickey at ljdickey@math.uwaterloo.ca (SC22 WG3 attendees)

  7. SIGAPL Software Library

    New Name, New Addresses:

    SIGAPL has made major changes in its software distribution system. The SIGAPL Software Library replaces what was formerly known as the "Software Exchange." SIGAPL wants to make array processing software much more widely available and easy to get. We want it to be decoupled from annual APL conferences, available year-round, unbundled by interpreter, and electronically free. Thanks to Lee Dickey at the University of Waterloo, this software is now available at:

    It's also available at:
    • BBS\APL: (see above, FileArea APL96)

    APL96 Conference Software Highlights:

    MERLIN Two new AWS mind bogglers (Langlet, FR)
    GRAN AWS []G Graphics (Buzin, RU)
    NFILES W3 Long file names, National Characters (Glantz, SE)
    APL2OS2T APL2/2 Tutorial for OS/2 (Jizba, US)
    APLSE Free APL*PLUS v10 Interpreter (Manugistics/APL2000)
    LRNAPLSE APLSE Tutorial & Documentation (Holt, US)
    UNLOCK-D Unlock locked fns in any small AWS (Holt, US)
    SL-Guide How to add to the SIGAPL Software Library

    SIGAPL Software Guidelines:

    The SIGAPL Software Library (SL) is the premier venue for APL, J, and other array-oriented authors to display their programming ideas and skills, and for vendors to showcase their demos and products. APL and J software authors and vendors are invited to send their material on a 3.5" DOS disk to:

    Lee Dickey, Mathematics Department
    University of Waterloo
    Waterloo Ontario
    Canada 2NL 3G1

    Tell him that it's for the Software Library. You may send your software at *any* time of the year. FTP upload is not currently available, but is expected to be operational by 1997.

    SIGAPL's updated Software Library guidelines are:

    • Include an ASCII file (call it WSNAME.TXT) to describe what the software does, and what hardware and software is needed to use it. English is preferred, and other languages are welcome.

    • Think electronically. Your software needs to be packaged as a stand-alone product for electronic distribution. Good documen- tation adds real value to your software.

    • Put all of your material in one single .ZIP file for easy FTPing.

    • Include any needed copyright permissions. Copyrighted software can't be distributed without permission.

    • If possible, provide APL software in both its original form and as an APLACSCII file. APLASCII software (v1.4) is available for all major APLs at the electronic sources listed above.

    • Check your software for viruses. Archive.waterloo.ca will also check your software for viruses.

    • Authors should pay special attention to the quality, usefulness, and documentation of their work, and should include their name and address (including email).

    • Significant improvements and major updates of prior SL software are welcome.


(8)   Q: How do I get book Y?
A:
Sources of Publications/Books

  • APL Quote Quad
    Association for Computing Machinery
    (address below)

  • EducAPL
    1120 Ave du Parc
    Quebec PQ
    CANADA G1S2W7

  • Renaissance Data Systems
    current catalog available for SASE ($.32)
    P.O.Box 421, Georgetown, CT 06829
    email: shaw@ix.netcom.com
    http://www.aplbooks.cnchost.com
    or call Ed Shaw at the APL Group, Inc. at (203)762-3933
    (Please do not ask for RDS)

  • Robert G. Brown
    APL Book Sales
    6749 South Westnedge Avenue
    Suite K-288
    Portage, Michigan
    USA 49002
    email address: bob@acm.org
    FAX: (616) 324-9070

  • Past proceedings of the "APL as a Tool of Thought" conferences
    are available from NY/SIGAPL.



(9)   Q: What good APL books exist?
A:
Reference Books

References - books mentioned on the net or that someone has recomended, not all of which are available:

For a more complete list online see: ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/bibliography/index.html

  • APL"nn" Conference Proceedings - The annual ACM/SigAPL conference proceedings, published yearly from 19?? (APL??) to date (APL96) as an issue of APL Quote Quad; replace nn by the appropriate last two digits of the year.

  • Brown et. al. "APL2 at a Glance," Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-038670-7.

  • T. Budd, "An APL Compiler," Springer-Verlag.

  • Maurice Dalois, "Introduction to APL*PLUS PC," available from EducAPL, US$30, US$10 for overseas shipping.

  • J. Ever and C. Fair, "Guidelines for APL Systems," DPD 22 IBM 037301, March 1976.

  • Gilman and Rose, "APL - An Interactive Approach," Wiley, ISBN 220-471-30022-5.

  • Ulf Grenander, "Mathematical Experiments on the Computer," Academic Press, 1982, ISBN 0-12-301750-5.

  • Kent Haralson, Useful APL Defined Functions, IBM Technical Report, TR 00.2409, Feb. 8 1973.

  • Timothy Holls, "APL Programming Guide," IBM G320-6103, 1978, and G320-6735, 1981, (out of print?).

  • IBM, "APL2 Programming: Language Reference" (Version 2, SH21-1061; Version 1, SH20-9227 (DOS only)).

  • IBM, "The APL Handbook of Techniques", IBM publication number S320-5996, April 1978. Includes routines for multi-precision integer and float operations.

  • The IBM System Journal, V. 30, No. 4 (1991); Special Issue Devoted to APL.

  • A.D. Falkoff, K.E Iverson, E.H Sussenguth, "A formal description of System/360,"
    The IBM System Journal, V. 3, No. 3 (1964)

  • K. E. Iverson, A Programming Language, Wiley, 1962.

  • K. Iverson, "A personal view of APL," IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 30, No. 4, 1991.

  • K. Iverson, Concrete Mathematics Companion

  • S. Kamin, "Programming Languages: An Interpreter-Based Approach," contains (among other things) toy implementations of Lisp, APL, Scheme, SASL, CLU, Smalltalk, and Prolog, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-201-06824-9.

  • Bernard LEGRAND, "Les APL Etendus," Masson, Paris, 1994. An introduction to modern APL (French).

  • Jon McGrew, "An Introduction to APL2," IBM (SH20-9229).

  • Peelle, APL an Introduction, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, ISBN 0-03-004953-9.

  • Reiter & Jones, APL with a Mathematical Accent, Brooks/Cole ISBN 0-534-12864-5, (now being distributed by Chapman & Hall).

  • C. Reiter, Fractuals Visualization and J, Iverson Software, Inc, 1995 ISBN 1-895721-11-3.

  • Adrian Smith, "APL, A Design Handbook for Commercial Systems," Wiley series in information processing, Wiley & Sons, 1982, ISBN 0-471-10092-7.

  • Norman D. Thomson, Raymond P. Polivka, "APL2 in Depth," Springer-Verlag, 1995, ISBN 0-387-94213-0 ($39.95).

  • Jerry R. Turner, "APL IS EASY!," Manugistics, 1993.

  • "SHARP APL Reference Manual," 2nd ed., Soliton Associates Limited PC Version: Iverson Software, 1993, ISBN 1-895721-07-5.

  • Jim Weigang, "APL Notes," Available from J. Weigang (includes APL*PLUS interpreter)
    40 Pelham Lane
    Wilton, CT 06897
    USA
    price: US$29 postpaid in US & Canada, US$38 overseas.

  • "A Source Book in APL," APL Press, 1981, ISBN 0-917326-10-5.

  • "J Phrases," Iverson Software, 1996, ISBN 1-895721-12-1

  • "Exploring Math", Iverson Software, 1996, ISBN 1-895721-13-X

  • "J Primer," Iverson Software, 1996, ISBN 1-895721-14-8



(10)   Q: What user groups exist?
A:
User groups

Note that information on officers may be somewhat out of date.


ACM/SIGAPL
Association for Computing Machinery / Special Interest Group on APL, international membership.
Quarterly journal Quote Quad. Chapter groups around the country.

Association for Computing Machinery
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212) 626-0500
email acmhelp@acm.org
APLBUG
APL Bay Area Users Group, Northern California ACM SIGAPL
Meets monthly, regular newsletter, $20/yr.
Chairman:Chuck Kennedy
(408)241-5920
75014.215@compuserve.com
ckennedy@hooked.net
Secretary/Treasurer:Curtis Jones
228 South 15th Street
San Jose, CA 95112-2150
jonesca@vnet.ibm.com
Newsletter editor:Chuck Kennedy

BACUS
Belgian APL CAM Users Society
APL CAM Journal (4 issues / year in French, Dutch, English) and other publications. fee: 500 BEF
c/o Joseph De Kerf
Rooienberg 72
B2570 Duffel BELGIUM
tel.: 32-15-31 47 24

BAA (11/1/98)
BAA British APL Association, a specialist group of the British Computer Society, international membership.
Quarterly journal VECTOR maintains a comprehensive vendor and product list. See the vector page for current information: http://www.vector.org.uk
Chicago APL SIG
Larry Mysz
Chicago APL SIG
836 Highland Drive
Chicago Heights IL 60411, USA
email: 73040.3032@compuserve.com
Connecticut APL group
Bob Pomeroy
Mass Mutual Life
1295 State Street
Mail Drop F465
Springfield MA 01111 USA
Tel: +1 413 788 8411 x2838

Denmark
APL Special Interest Group of the Danish Data Association (DDA) (?)
Per Gjerlof
email: d03per@vm2.uni-c.dk
Dutch APL User Group
APL Werkgroep Nederland
President:
Theo Zwart
OASIS
Lekstraat, 4
NL3433 ZB Niewegein
The NETHERLANDS

Tel: +31 3402 66336
Fax: +31 3402 65844
Secretary:
B. Smoor
Dorpstraat 50
4128BZ Lexmond
The Netherlands
Also contact: Eke Van Batenburg
email: sbqbeb@rulsfb.leidenuniv.nl

AFAPL
Association Francophone pour la promotion du langage APL
Les Nouvelles d'APL (journal 4/year) and other publications in French. fee: 350 franch francs in France, 450 FF abroad, 2800 FF for firms.
174, bd de Charonne
75020 PARIS
FRANCE
Tel. & Fax : (33)-1-43-56-31-79)
President:Bernard Legrand (6/99)
General Secretary:Ludmila Lemagnen,

email: lemagnen@aol.com
http://www.ensmp.fr/~scherer/langlet/


APL-Club Germany
c/o Dieter Lattermann
Rheinstrasse 23
D-69190 Walldorf, GERMANY
Tel: +49 6227 2003
email: 100332.1461@Compuserve.com

Groupe APL-J\Québec (Quebec)[11/13/98]
APL user group in Québec (city)
Gilles Kirouac, président
Quebec, Canada
email: gkirouac@riq.qc.ca
Japan APL Association (JAPLA)
Japanese APL/J interest group.
Monthly meetings at every 3rd Saturday and hold study APL /J.
Currently published JAPLA's journal 2 times / year. We welcome to our associate member who has an interest in APL/J.
JAPLA's Office:
c/o PRIDE
Masujima Bldg.
1-8-13, Higasi Gotanda,
Shinagawa ku,
Tokyo, 141 JAPAN
Tel: 81-3-3280-0411
Fax: 81-3-3280-0418
Chairman:
Dr. Tosio Nishikawa
Laboratory National Chemical for Industry
Higashi 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305, Japan
International Interface:
Masafusa Yasuda
2-4-10, Nogata,
Nakano ku,
Tokyo, 165, JAPAN
Tel/Fax: 81-3-3319-1956
email: myasuda@mix.or.jp

APL Club Oesterreich
APL Club Oesterreich
Obere Donaustrasse 95
A-1020 Wein, AUSTRIA

Rome/Italy ACM SIGAPL
Casella Postale 14343
00100 - Roma Trullo, ITALY
Chair: Mario Sacco
email: marsac@vnet.ibm.com
Additional contact:
David Lanari
Universita di Perugia
Piaza dell'Universita 2
Via G. Verga 30
I06100 Perugia, ITALY
email: david@ipguniv.bitnet

Melbourne APL Users Group
Contacts:
Harvey Davies
CSIRO Div Atm Res
Private Bag No. 1
Mordialloc, Victoria 3195, Australia
Phone: +61 3 586 7574
email: hld@dar.csiro.au

Moshe Sniedovich
email: moshe@mundoe.maths.mu.oz.au


NY/SIGAPL [revised 8/10/98]
The New York City local chapter of ACM SIGAPL.
Monthly meetings (ex July/August), newsletter "Big Apple APL", "APL as a Tool of Thought" miniconferences, approx. annual.
Dues $35, $25 for ACM or ACM SIGAPL members, $10 for students.
PO Box 2697
New York,
NY 10163-2697
USA
Chairman: David E. Siegel
Tel: 609-734-9554 (work)
email: Siegel@acm.org
Newsletter editor: Jim Boyd
Tel: +1 914-941-9239
email: jhb@acm.org
Membership chairman: Lynne C. Shaw
Tel: +1 212-662-2406
email: shaw@acm.org

Potomac ACM SIGAPL
The Potomac ACM SIGAPL Chapter has been inactive since August 1996. For information about Potomac SIGAPL, send email to Dick Holt (dick.holt@juno.com).
SEAPL
South East APL Users' Group
Doc Manges
SEAPL Newsletter Editor
email: SEAPLDOC@aol.com
Tel: 770-972-3755
413 Comanche Trail
Lawrenceville GA 30244
Other contacts:
Gordon and Stella Chamberlain
Interprocess Systems, Inc.
http://www.interprocess.com/
SOCAL-SIGAPL
SOCAL-SIGAPL Southern California APL user's group. Meets approximately every other month, at Los Angeles City College. Regular newsletter, electronic only. No dues. (11/23/98)
Editor: Arthur J. Stasney
Contacts: astasney@earthlink.net (Arthur J. Stasney)
jizba@gte.com (Zdenek V. Jizba)

SovAPL
Alexander O. Skomorokhov
P.O. Box 5061
Obninsk - 5
Kaluga Region
RUSSIA
email: askom@apl2.obninsk.su

Dr Alexander Skomorokhov
Obninsk Institut of Nuclear Power/IATE
Studgorod 1
Obninsk
Kaluga Region 249020
RUSSIA
Tel: +7 084439 31463
Fax: +7 095 2552225
email: askom@apl2.obninsk.su
Suomen APL
Suomen APL-yhdistys ry (Finn APL Association) about 4 informal newsletters/year, mainly in Finnish, one English issue/year.
Membership fees,per year: 100 Fmk (about 20 $). (March 1998)
Address: Box 1005, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
Chair:
Timo Korpela (1998)
The Central Pension Security Institute
SF-00065 Elaketurvakeskus, Finland
phone: +358 9 1512164, fax: +358 9 1512496
http://www.pyr.fi/apl/

SWAPL
SWAPL -- SouthWest APL Users' Group
Membership fees, per year USA$12
Non-USA postal supplement$6
c/o Stuart Yarus (newsletter editor)
P.O. Box 210367
Bedford, TX 76095 U.S.A.
(817) 656 5896; (817) 577 0165
Compuserve: 73700,2545
Internet: 73700.2545@compuserve.com
SwedAPL
Chairman is Christer Ulfhielm.
c/o Novator Consulting Group AB
Svardvagen 11C
S-182 33 Danderyd
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 6226350
Fax: +46 8 6226351
email: 100341.404@CompuServe.com (Christer Ulfhielm)
Swiss APL User(s) Group
Hans Steffen
Swiss APL User Group
c/o Federal Statistical Office
CH3003 Berne
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 31 382 27 95

See also:

Dr. Hanspeter Bieri
Institut fur Informatik
Universitat Berne
Langgasstrasse 51
CH3012 Bern
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 31 65 86 81
Fax: +41 31 65 39 65
email:bieri@iam.unibe.ch
email: si@ifi.unizh.ch
Sydney APL Users Group
Newsletter (with contributions from Melbourne group): "Epsilon" Acting President and Treasurer: Nick Laletin, Jr.
PO Box 1511
Macquarie Centre,
North Ryde 2113 Australia
Tel: +61 02 427 1605
Fax: (02) 257 6670
Secretary: Erik Nielson
Phone: +61 2 257 5742

Toronto ACM APL SIG
Toronto ACM APL SIG (9/98)
Meets monthly, excluding July, August, December
Monthly newsletter Gimme Arrays! Attendance is free and membership is CAD 25 per year, CAD 5 for full time students.
Chair: Dan King
danking@web.net
416-595-1782
Newsletter: publication is suspended until further notice
Treasurer: Eric Granz
egranz@aracnet.net
416-784-8703

P.O. Box 55
Adelaide Street Post Office
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 2H8
email: info@torontoapl.org
http://www.torontoapl.org
APL White Pages
A collection of names and email adressess of those interested in APL. Over 300 listings.
To be listed, or see a listing go to http://www.acm.org/sigapl


(11)   Q: What's the latest APL conference?
A:
Conferences


NY/SIGAPL
APL as a Tool of Thought
Held Yearly in NY
Last Held: 31 January 1998

The APL2000 User Conference
The 1999 APL2000 User Conference APL2000 Inc is please to announce the fourth annual APL2000 User Conference to be held November 14th through November 17th at the Clarion Plaza Hotel in Orlando Florida. For further information, please contact our conference coordinator, Sonia Beekman, at (301) 564-5020, email sonia@apl2000.com. or check our web site at http://www.APL2000.com.
The annual ACM SigAPL Conference
APL99: The 1999 International Conference on all Array Programming Languages
August 10-14, 1999 - University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA

See the web page: http://www.lingo.com/apl99/, or

See the ACM SIGAPL website, or subscribe to the APL99 mailing list. You can subscribe by sending email to listserve@acm.org with "Subscribe APL99-Info Your Name" in the BODY of the msg (without the quotes). You will be requested to confirm your subscription. You will receive an automatic welcome msg and updated information as it is available.

Previous conference proceedings are available from ACM as issues of APL Quote Quad. For APL97 a video and CD ROM are available from Eric Granz of the Toronto APL SIG (see above).


SIGAPL Software Library

- All Conference Packages, for all years, will be available from SIGAPL, the BBS\APL, and the Waterloo Archives at ftp://archive.uwaterloo.ca/languages/apl/software-library/index.html




(12)   Q: How do I pass APL functions from one APL to another?
A:
Migration of applications

Different APL vendors store workspaces in completely different formats. This has greatly reduced sharing of functions among users, and made it difficult for users to migrate between vendors and even between machines. Here there are two main options -

  1. Use the Workspace Interchange Standard (WSIS), documented in the ISO standard. This has been partially implemented by various vendors. For example Manugistics (STSC) uses an SLT workspace to do the reading/writing.

  2. Use the IBM )in and )out .atf files (documentation?) Here are some concrete instructions, courtesy of Eke van Batenburg, SBQBEB@rulsfb.LeidenUniv.nl:

    You only port APL, no GUI, no file I/O, no graphics, no locked objects. The following recipees use (arbitrary choosen) filename TRANSW.ATF on floppy as intermediate. "<>" means "next line".

    1. Macintosh APL68000 export to floppy:
      []MOUNT'Untitled' <> )OUT 0 TRANSWS
      In finder, change file name to "TRANSWS.ATF"

    2. Macintosh APL68000 import from floppy:
      In finder, change file name to "TRANSWS" (without ".ATF" extension!!!)
      []MOUNT'Untitled' <> )IN 0 TRANSWS Problems:
      "INVALID FILE" can mean "SYMBOL TABLE FULL" (check ")SYMBOLS" and increase them to 1000) or comment lines in file (remove all lines beginning with "*" using any editor and try again).

    3. Atari APL68000 export to floppy:
      []MOUNT 'A:' <> )OUT 0 TRANSWS

    4. Atari APL68000 import from floppy
      []MOUNT 'A:' <> )IN 0 TRANSWS
      Problems: same as in point 2.

    5. IBM APL2/PC export to floppy:
      )HOST A: <> )OUT TRANSWS

    6. IBM APL2/PC import from floppy:
      )HOST A: <> )IN TRANSWS
      Problems: none experienced upto now

    7. IBM mainframe export to floppy:
      start APL with "APL2 CASE(2)" (necessary for underscored conversion)
      )CLEAR <> )COPY workspacetobeported (NOT LOAD!!!!)
      )OUT TRANSWS <> )CLEAR <> )IN TRANSWS <> )OUT TRANSWS
      (yes, 2x seems to work, 1x sometimes gives gibberish, I don't know why)
      Download ....APLTF.TRANSWS to floppy, rename to TRANSWS.ATF
      Problems: if you download with Kermit: set TEXTMODE OFF and set file TYPE BINARY

    8. IBM mainframe import from floppy
      I have no experience with this, but I suppose:
      Upload TRANSWS.ATF to file ...APLTF.TRANSWS
      )IN TRANSWS

    9. APL2000 APL+DOS, APL+UNIX, APL+Win export to floppy:
      ]OUT A:TRANSWS.ATF

    10. APL2000 APL+DOS, APL+UNIX, APL+Win import from floppy:
      ]IN A:TRANSWS.ATF
      Problems: Different from IBM or APL68000 or "extended standard" are: "A B C[2]" is B, partioned enclose, squeezed quad, monadic ",[1.5]", take with axis and scalar functions with axis.

    11. Dyalog APL:
      im/export functions have since several years a bug that thinks that your recordsize is wrong. If you manage to correct only this, it seems to work find.

    12. Contribution of others to TRYAPL(?), IPSharp APL, ISIAPL etc.
  3. Write the functions/data out to ASCII files using some sort of transliteration scheme (see 11). This has the advantage over (1) that the files are human-readable and editable.

All schemes suffer from the basic incompatibility between APL vendors. This comes from extensions to standard ISO APL in several areas:

  1. Different built in functions - the quad functions. This includes file IO, graphics etc. Also the (mostly obsolete) ibeam functions.
  2. Generalized arrays - boxes versus nests. A major fight in the community for at least the last 10 years. Unresolved.
  3. User defined operators - not all implementations allow this.
  4. Multivalent functions - not all implementations allow this.

Each instance of the above requires someone who knows both implementations to rewrite the code. Hence only ISO APL is easily portable.



(13)   Q: How do I write APL using only ASCII?
A:
Writing APL in ASCII

Almost all vendors have provided ways to enter APL from non-APL terminals. They took forms such as @BOX for example. For some reason however, they all used different symbol sets and different transliterations. Hence all are incompatible. Various users, seeing the advantage of this approach versus the WSIS have tried their hands.

I there are several separate issues: writing an APL character, writing APL data, writing APL functions, and writing out a whole workspace.

Approaches for character :

  1. My own approach - see symbols3v1.txt on my home page
    Example:
    s  .is + / .ro , a

  2. William Chang (wchang@phage.cshl.org) has proposed a J-ish verion called APL!
    Example:
    s  <- +/ ? , a

  3. Jim Weigang (jimw@math.umass.edu) has proposed a bit more verbose version.
    Example:
    s {<-} +/ {rho} , a

Approaches for objects:

  1. John Mitloehner (mitloehn@uxq.wu-wien.ac.at) has proposed a PP scheme for this that includes data and functions. See his article at APL92. Code for various APLs is available at waterloo. Example:
       @begin function NUB
          R@is NUB X
          R@is ((X@iota X)= @iota @rho X)/X
       @end function
    
    Code is also available for incorporation of APL into latex documents.

  2. Jim Weigang proposes the more familiar "Del editor" output format. Sample code for this translator is available in this format.


(14)    Q: Where can I find APL employment information?
A:
The APL Skills Database

The APL Skills Database (http://www.torontoapl.org/skills) is a free worldwide employment information project, provided by The Toronto APL Special Interest Group and The ACM Special Interest Group on APL.

Recognizing the niche-market nature of the use of APL in data processing, the APL Skills Database project was launched in 1994 to aid companies and employers looking for APL-skilled personnel, and to help APL-skilled professionals seeking employment opportunities with companies needing APL expertise. To date, dozens of participants in the project have been successfully placed in APL-related employment positions by using this service!

The APL Skills Database website will post information about APL-related employment as it becomes available. Also, an email broadcast facility sends monthly job bulletins to APL-skilled participants who subscribe to this service (now over 100 persons).

The APL Skills Database is a free service for both employers and job-seekers. If you are an employer looking for APL skills, send us the details of the position being offered and we will post them on our website. APL-skilled persons who subscribe to the APL Skills Database will be sent these incoming job notices via email as they arrive.

The APL Skills Database website also has a section for posting the resumes of APL-skilled individuals who may be in the job market. If you already have your own website, we will link to it from our site.

All information and questions about the project may be directed to either of our email addresses:

info@torontoapl.org or apl_jobs@acm.org

The APL Skills Database can only work with the enthusiastic participation of employers seeking APL skills, and employees seeking APL employment. Please join us in this unique project.

The Toronto APL Special Interest Group
P.O. Box 55, Adelaide St. Post Office
Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2H8, Canada
http://www.torontoapl.org
email: apl_jobs@acm.org or: info@torontoapl.org


*free usually means you can get it for free from the net, or pay small media/documentation charges to get it from the vendor.

Changes/Additions: sam@kalessin.jpl.nasa.gov

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