dsm@cunixc.columbia.edu (David Millman) (05/17/88)
Does anyone know of (or have) a decent unix APL system? Any comments on those you may have anyway (but, I assume, don't like)? We are shopping here... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Millman arpa: dsm@cunixc.columbia.edu Sr. Analyst/Programmer bitnet: dsmus@cuvma Columbia U Computer Center uucp: ...rutgers!columbia!cunixc.columbia.edu!dsm
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (05/20/88)
In article <677@cunixc.columbia.edu> dsm@cunixc.columbia.edu (David Millman) writes: > >Does anyone know of (or have) a decent unix APL system? >Any comments on those you may have anyway (but, I assume, don't like)? > (1) There is the Reeves-Bruner version of APL that is distributed with 4.3 BSD. I think that an early version of this was years ago a decus distribution. There are known bugs with this and the BSD version. The problem here is that many people have done fixes, but I think that the source, BSD, does not incorporate them, and still distributes the bad stuff. But, if you have a UNIX license, you should check with Ken Yap, ken@rochester.uucp, for a debugged version which I think may be the current best. If anyone knows otherwise, I would like to hear about it. (2) STSC offers a version for UNIX. It is compatible with their full line of splendid APL products. They can be reached in Rockville, MD. This product is highly recommended. (3) I.P.Sharp Associates offers a version for UNIX. It is the APL that is closest to Dictionary APL. (See the article called "The APL Dictionary", by K.E. Iverson in the September, 1987 issue of APL Quote Quad). Contact the Palo Alto, California, office of I.P.Sharp Associates for more information. This product is highly recommended. (4) Dyalog APL offers an innovative and advanced version of APL. My recollection is that they have followed the lead of APL2 in the introduction of Nested Arrays and (gasp) strand notation. I do not have their address (in the UK) at hand. If you ask, I will find it. This product is highly recommended. (5) NIAL and Q'NIAL are implementations of an APL-like Nested Interactive Array Language. These come from NIAL in Kingston, Ontario, and Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. NIAL, in addition to the APL-like handling of arrays, has structured programming statements, and no special APL graphic characters. I do not have a lot of expeience with this myself, but if you want an independent evaluation, you might check with Professor Smiley (Statistics) in Alberta. I hope that helps... APL is alive and well, and growing. Prof. L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@WATDCS.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (05/25/88)
In article <1571@water.waterloo.edu> ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu I wrote, for someone who wanted to know >>Does anyone know of (or have) a decent unix APL system? ... [lots of good stuff left out] >(4) Dyalog APL offers an innovative and advanced version of APL. ... Here is the address that I did not have at the time: Dyadic Systems Ltd Park House The High Street Alton, Hampshire UK -- Prof. L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@WATDCS.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (05/26/88)
In article <1571@water.waterloo.edu> ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu I write: >In article <677@cunixc.columbia.edu> dsm@cunixc.columbia.edu (David Millman) writes: >> >>Does anyone know of (or have) a decent unix APL system? >>Any comments on those you may have anyway (but, I assume, don't like)? > >(1) There is the Reeves-Bruner version of APL that is distributed with >4.3 BSD. I think that an early version of this was years ago a decus >distribution. There are known bugs with this and the BSD version. The >problem here is that many people have done fixes, but I think that the >source, BSD, does not incorporate them, and still distributes the bad >stuff. But, if you have a UNIX license, you should check with Ken Yap, >ken@rochester.uucp, for a debugged version which I think may be the >current best. If anyone knows otherwise, I would like to hear about >it. Thos Sumner ( root@cca.ucsf.edu ), reminds me that Timothy A. Budd ( budd@mist.cs.orst.edu ) has been working on APL Compiler that works in conjunction with the Thompson-Reeves-Bruner APL that comes with some unix systems. Preliminary reports on this PD APL compiler have been published in APL Quote Quad (Proceedings of APL83 ? ) and in a technical report (TR 81-17) from Department of Computer Science at the University of Arizona. Budd's book "An APL Compiler", published by Springer Verlag, has just appeared, and a review can be seen in the June, 1988, issue of APL Quote Quad. -- Prof. L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@WATDCS.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu