roz@l.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (12/12/86)
Hi,
I'm a poor little fellow who's trying to learn APL because there's no APL-
programming course anywhere here at Purdue. The EE Dept used to offer one,
but no longer is, because the fellow who used to teach it for meager graduate
TA salaries got his degree and left. *SO*, I'd like your help in recomending
a good text on APL for beginners. Please feel free to add any and all comments
about the book(s) you're recommending.
advTHANKSance.
--
Hao-Nhien Q. Vu (pur-ee!l.cc.purdue.edu!vu)
(vu@l.cc.purdue.edu)
[That's "ell", not "one"]les8070@ritcv.UUCP (Lance E. Shepard) (12/14/86)
I learned APL from the book by Gillman and Rose. It's been several years since I last picked up the book so I don't remember the exact title. It's is something simple, like ``APL for Beginners.'' It's a large, orange, soft cover book. If I remember correctly, it had problems after each chapter, with solutions at the end of the book. I recommend the book highly. Lance Shepard
dave@mtunb.UUCP (David Lindsay) (12/15/86)
In article <476@l.cc.purdue.edu> roz@l.cc.purdue.edu (Vu Qui Hao-Nhien) writes: >Hi, > >I'm a poor little fellow who's trying to learn APL because there's no APL- >programming course anywhere here at Purdue. The EE Dept used to offer one, >but no longer is, because the fellow who used to teach it for meager graduate >TA salaries got his degree and left. *SO*, I'd like your help in recomending >a good text on APL for beginners. Please feel free to add any and all comments >about the book(s) you're recommending. > >advTHANKSance. >-- >Hao-Nhien Q. Vu (pur-ee!l.cc.purdue.edu!vu) > (vu@l.cc.purdue.edu) >[That's "ell", not "one"] A couple of APL book recommendations: o Introduction to APL and Computer Programming, by E. Harms & M. Zabinski, Wiley & Sons, 1977 This book is a good intro to APL with lots of example code and flowcharts to help explain the examples. It even provides solutions to the exercises! o APL-STAT, by J. Ramsey & G. Musgrave, 1981, Lifetime Learning Pub. (a div. of Wadsworth). This book is a beginners book looking at APL from a STATistics view. Lots of good example code (and exercises with solution code) covering most standard statistical problems (e.g., distributions, regression). I think both of these texts are good learning tools to pick up APL. ______ _______ _____ _______ ------- David E. Lindsay / __ \ <__ __> / __ \ <__ __> -====------ mtunb!dave | (__) | | | \ \ \_\ | | -======------ 307 Middletown-Lin. Rd. | __ | | | / _) __ | | --====------- Lincroft, NJ 07738 | | | | | | ( (__/ / | | ----------- |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_| ------- (201) 576-2397
paull@hpcvck.HP (Paul Liebert) (12/16/86)
I believe that the book referred to by the previous response should
have been
APL: AN INTERACTIVE APPROACH
by Leonard Gillman and Allen J Rose.
The latest version (with nested arrays and other nice enhancements) is
in a pink/magenta rather than orange cover.
I also highly recommend this text. It is very readable and written for
a wide cross section of proficiency levels.
Paul (for the mathematically sophisticated, dyadic ! is an
implementation of the complete beta function) Liebertljdickey@water.UUCP (12/16/86)
In <802@mtunb.UUCP>, dave@mtunb.UUCP (David Lindsay) writes: > In <476@l.cc.purdue.edu> roz@l.cc.purdue.edu (Vu Qui Hao-Nhien) writes: > >I'm a poor little fellow who's trying to learn APL ... > A couple of APL book recommendations: > o Introduction to APL and Computer Programming, > by E. Harms & M. Zabinski, Wiley & Sons, 1977 > o APL-STAT, by J. Ramsey & G. Musgrave, 1981, Lifetime Learning Pub. > (a div. of Wadsworth). I would like to add to this list by mentioning o ``APL: an introduction'' by Howard A. Peele, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1986). The book has 460+xvi pages, and is organized into chapters as follows: Part 1 1 Immediate Execution 2 Program Definition 3 Controlling Execution 4 Branching 5 Applying Functions 6 Interactive Programs 7 Arrays 8 Array functions and operators 9 Mathematical Functions Part 2 10 APL Tools for business applications 11 APL tools for statistics applications 12 APL tools for mathematics applications 13 APL tools for educational applications 14 APL tools for computer science Appendices A Background information B Microcomputer APL systems C Enhanced APL systems D APL Bogglers E Answers to exercises F Displays of APL programs G Summary of APL I think this gives you some idea of what the book covers. There are hundreds and hundreds of examples. This book is now my first choice when I am asked to recommend a book for beginners who want an introduction to APL. -- Prof. L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UUCP ljdickey%water@waterloo.CSNET ljdickey%water%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA ljdickey@watdcs.BITNET
robert@megaron.UUCP (12/16/86)
> I learned APL from the book by Gillman and Rose. It's been several years > since I last picked up the book so I don't remember the exact title. It's > is something simple, like ``APL for Beginners.'' > Lance Shepard The book is APL, An Interactive Approach. Probably the only book to be used if you're really serious. The newest edition also includes material on APL*PLUS. There are others, but I can't find them on my book shelves, so I probably donated to some poor student since they were taking up valuable space. Robert J. Drabek Dept of Comp Sci Univ of Ariz Tucson, AZ
uchuck@ecsvax.UUCP (Charles Bennett) (12/16/86)
In article <802@mtunb.UUCP>, dave@mtunb.UUCP (David Lindsay) writes: > In article <476@l.cc.purdue.edu> roz@l.cc.purdue.edu (Vu Qui Hao-Nhien) writes: I would add APL\360 AN INTERACTIVE APPROACH by Gilman and Rose, John Wiley and Sons, 1970. This book leads the learner by doing, truley an interactive approach. Not a good reference book. -- -Chuck Bennett- 919-966-1134 ... ...!(decvax|akgua)!mcnc!ecsvax!uchuck