jayf@islenet.UUCP (Jay Fields) (06/08/85)
Mac C & APL By J Fields While Macintosh seems to be the computer for the rest of us, what about all of the people who are use to the run-of-the-mill type of old standard computers? What about people who like the usefulness of business languages like COBOL for coding business programs, or the speed and compactness of machine language for requirements that are speed or space critical? Fortunately, new tools are coming along. In recent months we've seen the arrival of both high-level languages like Basic, Forth, and Pascal (perhaps we'll even see COBOL soon); as well as machine level tools like MacASM for getting down to the nitty-gritty bits. (MacASM, by the way, is pronounced MAC-A-S-M with 'asm' spelled out so it doesn't sound like something out of Master's & Johnson's....) My own observation is that the MAC is turning out to be a very good platform to implement both high-level and low-level tools on. Not only is the Mac user interface appropriate for writers of executive memos and high- tech scribblers, but it also lends itself well to programming -- I no longer have to write the same code twice. The first language to show me this was HIPPO-C. Level one of Hippo-C comes with a well written and easy to use tutorial. How many languages have you learned by trudging through the books entering sample programs one at a time by hand? With Hippo you can cut and paste the samples right out of the tutorial on your screen. Want to experiment? Well, you can use many of the same editing techniques you've been using in popular word processing programs to modify the sample programs. So, instead of the program printing out Chris Somebody's name on your screen it can print out yours, or perhaps some favorite salutation, "Damn the torpedoes...." Today something new and exciting came along. Dr. Jerry Brenan, who works in the University of Hawaii's Psychology department, introduced me to APL on the Macintosh. This was particularly exciting because I've not even seen APL advertised for the Mac, and did not know it was available. Don't all software producers start advertising months in advance of product availability? Now, if you're like I was before I knew about APL then you're probably sitting there asking yourself to reconsider your initial decision to read this particular article. Such would have been my reaction at the very mention of a 'new language.' The minds and bodies of programmers seem to develop some sort of defense mechanism with time. "We are not going to suffer these long hours while you learn every new thing that comes along." they seem to say. They may have a point. After all, you've hardly touched that 'good ole' MDL-2+ after the time you spent learning it (never mind what it cost -- the investment you made, the backup disks, and the surprise upgrade to super- duper version 1.2XXX-rev. A to mod. II). Still, APL is worth checking out. It might just knock your socks off. APL stands for "A Programming Language." It's a language that seems particularly well suited to working with numbers. Jerry showed me how, with five or six characters, he could almost instantly fill an array with 10,000 randomly generated numbers. "Hm, seems kind of fast," he murmured. Four keystrokes later the sum of all 10,000 numbers was displayed just as quickly. It was my turn to be impressed. "Try doing that in Applesoft," I thought to myself. Psychologists, like Dr. Brenan, can use APL to perform statistical analysis. In fact, Dr. Brenan has programmed, in APL, a statistics package called STAT 1 that runs on PC-DOS machines. He will very likely be producing it for the Mac soon judging from his reaction to the Mac. Rather than try to interpret what he presented to me, here are a few paragraphs from his brochure on STAT 1: "STAT 1 brings powerful research tools to the office desk. It is ideal (a) as a statistics learning tool; (b) as an introduction to computer-based research; (c) as a set of statistical analysis tools. STAT 1 takes data from initial coding and documentation through printing the final analysis with titles and footnotes. STAT 1 helps the user pick appropriate statistics with its 'statistical decision tree,' and provides topical help screens at the touch of a key. "STAT 1 is reasonably priced, easy to learn, requires no special language, and comes with a comprehensive manual that focuses on application examples. STAT 1 requires no computer programming, but presents all choices in easy-to-use menu form. The user simply selects a procedure from the menu and presses Return. STAT 1 prompts for critical inputs through each step of the analysis. The program is ideal for offices and agencies in which a number of people must analyze research, but do not have time to master complex mainframe statistical packages. "STAT 1 provides all basic statistical procedures, beginning with simple descriptive statistics crosstabulations and data transformation, and working through to powerful correlation, analysis of variance, and regression routines. STAT 1's full-screen editor gives the user complete control over data entry and correction. Robust data transformation procedures help correct for bias in data, and unique date-arithmetic functions provide a tool for analyzing administrative data." There, I couldn't have said that better myself. I want to stress that Dr. Brenan also offers a text version of the STAT 1 manual that is suitable for use as an introductory text for teaching statistics. My feeling is that if you've never studied statistics, but think you could benefit from applying statistics in your work environment, then STAT 1 would be a good package to pick up both for learning stats and for later applying them. STAT 1 is offered at $179.95 and requires an IBM-PC or a "99% compatible" personal computer with 256K bytes of memory and two floppy disk drives or one floppy disk and one fixed disk drive. It will use an 8087 math processor chip automatically if one is installed, and uses all available computer memory. To order contact me via Compuserve 76174,456; USENET ..islenet/jayf ; SOURCE CL3035; phone, 808/521-4487; or mail, c/o IDSC, 1251 Heulu St. #107, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-3085. If you have a bankcard or can send a check I'll relay the order to a stocking dealer. STAT 1 is an example of the usefulness of APL. If you have math intensive applications APL is probably a good tool to add to your kit bag. Other uses I can think of are for stock market analysis, financial modeling, engineering, and business management. APL comes with its own tutorial built in, a terminal program for hooking up with mainframes -- my bet is that you could use this to hook with Dow Jones for rapid-fire price analysis -- and a menu generator. Don't overlook this last item. Have you ever wondered how programmers go about setting up the menus on Mac with all those buttons, text boxes, and icons? APL is worth getting just to see how it's done. However, you do not have to buy APL. You can pick up the free demo disk. The demo disk has all of the same features, but does not allow you to Save. If you want a copy, send an INITIALIZED blank Macintosh disk labeled with your name & address along with a SASE and $1.00 to the above address; I'll fire a copy of the APL sample back to you. The buck is to buy peanuts for the chipmunks that keep my disk drives spinning -- you gotta feed the chipmunks occasionally or they go away. What has become increasingly clear is that the MAC is not just the machine for the rest of us, it's THE MACHINE FOR ALL OF US. Being able to learn a new language like C or APL with out laboring over the manuals is a big advantage. Being able to pull down the tutorial anytime you need to while you're in the middle of coding something is also helpful. But the icing on the cake was seeing Dr. Brenan's reaction to the MAC (I was calling him "Jerry" until I sat down to write this and discovered with alarm that he's a phd, someone I may well end up taking classes from someday, and someone who should certainly be addressed as Dr. so-and-so...). "This is fast," he said. "This is much faster than the 8088." -Cheers- J Fields
jayf@islenet.UUCP (Jay Fields) (06/13/85)
> Mac C & APL > By J Fields > > While Macintosh seems to be the computer for the rest of us, what about all > of the people who are use to the run-of-the-mill type of old standard > computers? What about people who like the usefulness of business > languages like COBOL for coding business programs, or the speed and > compactness of machine language for requirements that are speed or space > critical? Fortunately, new tools are coming along. In recent months we've > seen the arrival of both high-level languages like Basic, Forth, and Pascal > (perhaps we'll even see COBOL soon); as well as machine level tools like > MacASM for getting down to the nitty-gritty bits. (MacASM, by the way, is > pronounced MAC-A-S-M with 'asm' spelled out so it doesn't sound like > something out of Master's & Johnson's....) > > My own observation is that the MAC is turning out to be a very good > platform to implement both high-level and low-level tools on. Not only is > the Mac user interface appropriate for writers of executive memos and high- > tech scribblers, but it also lends itself well to programming -- I no longer > have to write the same code twice. The first language to show me this was > HIPPO-C. > > Level one of Hippo-C comes with a well written and easy to use tutorial. > How many languages have you learned by trudging through the books > entering sample programs one at a time by hand? With Hippo you can cut > and paste the samples right out of the tutorial on your screen. Want to > experiment? Well, you can use many of the same editing techniques you've > been using in popular word processing programs to modify the sample > programs. So, instead of the program printing out Chris Somebody's name on > your screen it can print out yours, or perhaps some favorite salutation, > "Damn the torpedoes...." > > Today something new and exciting came along. Dr. Jerry Brenan, who works > in the University of Hawaii's Psychology department, introduced me to APL > on the Macintosh. This was particularly exciting because I've not even seen > APL advertised for the Mac, and did not know it was available. Don't all > software producers start advertising months in advance of product > availability? > > Now, if you're like I was before I knew about APL then you're probably > sitting there asking yourself to reconsider your initial decision to read this > particular article. Such would have been my reaction at the very mention of > a 'new language.' The minds and bodies of programmers seem to develop > some sort of defense mechanism with time. > > "We are not going to suffer these long hours while you learn every new thing > that comes along." they seem to say. > > They may have a point. After all, you've hardly touched that 'good ole' > MDL-2+ after the time you spent learning it (never mind what it cost -- the > investment you made, the backup disks, and the surprise upgrade to super- > duper version 1.2XXX-rev. A to mod. II). Still, APL is worth checking out. It > might just knock your socks off. > > APL stands for "A Programming Language." It's a language that seems > particularly well suited to working with numbers. Jerry showed me how, > with five or six characters, he could almost instantly fill an array with > 10,000 randomly generated numbers. "Hm, seems kind of fast," he > murmured. Four keystrokes later the sum of all 10,000 numbers was > displayed just as quickly. It was my turn to be impressed. "Try doing that > in Applesoft," I thought to myself. > > Psychologists, like Dr. Brenan, can use APL to perform statistical analysis. In > fact, Dr. Brenan has programmed, in APL, a statistics package called STAT 1 > that runs on PC-DOS machines. He will very likely be producing it for the > Mac soon judging from his reaction to the Mac. Rather than try to interpret > what he presented to me, here are a few paragraphs from his brochure on > STAT 1: > > "STAT 1 brings powerful research tools to the office desk. It is ideal > (a) as a statistics learning tool; (b) as an introduction to computer-based > research; (c) as a set of statistical analysis tools. STAT 1 takes data from > initial coding and documentation through printing the final analysis with > titles and footnotes. STAT 1 helps the user pick appropriate statistics with > its 'statistical decision tree,' and provides topical help screens at the touch of > a key. > > "STAT 1 is reasonably priced, easy to learn, requires no special > language, and comes with a comprehensive manual that focuses on > application examples. STAT 1 requires no computer programming, but > presents all choices in easy-to-use menu form. The user simply selects a > procedure from the menu and presses Return. STAT 1 prompts for critical > inputs through each step of the analysis. The program is ideal for offices and > agencies in which a number of people must analyze research, but do not > have time to master complex mainframe statistical packages. > > "STAT 1 provides all basic statistical procedures, beginning with > simple descriptive statistics crosstabulations and data transformation, and > working through to powerful correlation, analysis of variance, and regression > routines. STAT 1's full-screen editor gives the user complete control over > data entry and correction. Robust data transformation procedures help > correct for bias in data, and unique date-arithmetic functions provide a tool > for analyzing administrative data." > > There, I couldn't have said that better myself. I want to stress that Dr. > Brenan also offers a text version of the STAT 1 manual that is suitable for > use as an introductory text for teaching statistics. My feeling is that if > you've never studied statistics, but think you could benefit from applying > statistics in your work environment, then STAT 1 would be a good package > to pick up both for learning stats and for later applying them. > > STAT 1 is offered at $179.95 and requires an IBM-PC or a "99% compatible" > personal computer with 256K bytes of memory and two floppy disk drives > or one floppy disk and one fixed disk drive. It will use an 8087 math > processor chip automatically if one is installed, and uses all available > computer memory. To order contact me via Compuserve 76174,456; USENET > ..islenet/jayf ; SOURCE CL3035; phone, 808/521-4487; or mail, c/o IDSC, 1251 > Heulu St. #107, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-3085. If you have a bankcard or > can send a check I'll relay the order to a stocking dealer. > > STAT 1 is an example of the usefulness of APL. If you have math intensive > applications APL is probably a good tool to add to your kit bag. Other uses I > can think of are for stock market analysis, financial modeling, engineering, > and business management. APL comes with its own tutorial built in, a > terminal program for hooking up with mainframes -- my bet is that you > could use this to hook with Dow Jones for rapid-fire price analysis -- and a > menu generator. > > Don't overlook this last item. Have you ever wondered how programmers go > about setting up the menus on Mac with all those buttons, text boxes, and > icons? APL is worth getting just to see how it's done. However, you do not > have to buy APL. You can pick up the free demo disk. The demo disk has all > of the same features, but does not allow you to Save. If you want a copy, > send an INITIALIZED blank Macintosh disk labeled with your name & > address along with a SASE and $1.00 to the above address; I'll fire a copy of > the APL sample back to you. The buck is to buy peanuts for the chipmunks > that keep my disk drives spinning -- you gotta feed the chipmunks > occasionally or they go away. > > What has become increasingly clear is that the MAC is not just the machine > for the rest of us, it's THE MACHINE FOR ALL OF US. Being able to learn a > new language like C or APL with out laboring over the manuals is a big > advantage. Being able to pull down the tutorial anytime you need to while > you're in the middle of coding something is also helpful. But the icing on the > cake was seeing Dr. Brenan's reaction to the MAC (I was calling him "Jerry" > until I sat down to write this and discovered with alarm that he's a phd, > someone I may well end up taking classes from someday, and someone who > should certainly be addressed as Dr. so-and-so...). > > "This is fast," he said. "This is much faster than the 8088." > > -Cheers- > J Fields Sorry for leaving out word about the people who make APL for Mac, and thanks to Mark & Dave for calling my attention to this omission. It was one of my primary objectives to give them some well deserved credit in the review...guess I got a bit excited and forgot. Anyway.... Apl for the MAC is called PortAPL, and can be ordered from: Portable Software 60 Aberdeen Ave. Cambridge, Ma. 02138 (607) 547-2918 Price is $275.00 Plus $10.00 for shipping. VISA & M/C are acceptable. Now, if one of you wizards would send me the pill you take to learn this stuff faster :) Aloha, J Fields
egv@aicchi.UUCP (Vann) (06/13/85)
> Mac C & APL > By J Fields > > While Macintosh seems to be the computer for the rest of us, what about all > of the people who are use to the run-of-the-mill type of old standard > computers? What about people who like the usefulness of business > languages like COBOL for coding business programs, or the speed and > compactness of machine language for requirements that are speed or space > critical? Fortunately, new tools are coming along... As it turns out there is an announcement in the July 1985 issue of MacWorld concerning the fact that Micro Focus has released (or is releasing) a COBOL compiler for the Macintosh. Looks like you'll be able to solve the business oriented problems after all... -- Eric Geoffrey Vann Analysts International (Chicago Branch) (312) 882-4673 ..!ihnp4!aicchi!egv
watapl@watmath.UUCP (APL Quote Quad) (06/19/85)
> Apl for the MAC is called PortAPL, and can be ...
^^^^^^^
I thought it was "PortaAPL" .
--
watapl@watmath.UUCP
watapl%watmath@waterloo.CSNET
... {ihnp4, allegra, decvax} !watmath!watapl