ljdickey@water.UUCP (Lee Dickey) (04/28/86)
Bumpf from the organizers of APL 86. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- plans for apl 86 are now so well advanced that we can offer you abstracts of the contributed papers, a timetable and a description of tutorials and some invited talks. there are a few things we can't tell you yet - we are still finalising arrangements for invited speakers, prizes, competitions and what i suppose we should call side shows. and of course we cannot tell what new products will be launched at the exhibition. what is apl 86 going to be like? we can offer the following facts: 1 you will be able to learn more at apl 86 than on any week's professional development seminar or course. there are three full streams of activities to choose between and one stream consists entirely of tutorials. 2 you can choose what you learn. the whole conference is timed in 45 minute sessions: the lecture theatres open on to a common concourse and you can change streams at every break. 3 there is something for you in every subject that apl is used for, from stock control to typesetting, from graphics to music, from laura ashley to nuclear physics, and there are more varieties of machine and of apl than ever before. 4 you can see and hear better - the theatres have raked seating and are equipped with the latest visual aids. more of the papers will be accompanied by demonstrations with these aids than ever before; so many indeed that we have equipped two theatres with large screen barco colour projectors. 5 all the foremost vendors of apl hardware and software are exhibiting: you will be able to see and question them for the whole week and by friday 11 july, if you wish, you will be really well informed about what the market has to offer. 6 in addition to the conference proceedings (47 contributed papers out of 166 abstracts offered to us) which are full of valuable material, we intend to publish a second volume of tutorials and other contributions. these will contain extended tutorial material and such useful things as alan graham's apl2 idiom list. 7 for our software exchange we already have offers of a row of microcomputers. bring or send your software for any implementation of apl and a six by four inch (15 by 10 cm) advertisement for us to put on the wall and let other delegates see what things you can do with apl. blank disks will be on sale and we will allow commercial software samples if they are free. 8 the bookstall will be run by a professional bookseller: they will handle all the apl books they have heard of and a good many rarities will also be on sale (back numbers of apl magazines, proceedings of little-known apl conferences, private venture publications and so on). anyone with apl books for sale please contact us. bookings have surprised us by beginning earlier and in greater quantity than for previous conferences. if the pattern is typical we shall sell out. book early to be sure of a place. the software exchange the software exchange will be open during exhibition hours and the computers are individually bookable in advance up to half an hour at a time. there will be enough pcs for every delegate to spend at least an hour at a keyboard during the week. each piece of software offered will be allowed one advertisement which will be displayed in the exchange. while there is space we will accept advertisements for samplers of commercial software as well as privately offered software. the only condition is that there is to be no charge. the exchange is not available for copying software for sale. each advertisement will indicate where the software advertised is available (mostly, we hope, on hard disk for speed of copying), and should also say which version of apl it uses. the only thing we will sell is floppy disks, (at a very reasonable price) in case you need extras. there will be no restriction on what is offered, except that it should be useful to aplers. bring along a single elegant function or a raft of graphic pictures, public domain music or a complete stock control workspace. here is your chance to show the world what you can do with apl. piracy and selling code are prohibited: persons caught attempting either will be debarred. the exhibition the exhibition area is on two floors: on the concourse between the lecture theatres and on the floor below next to the bar. the two floors are connected by a broad open staircase. we have had to extend the exhibition area from what we originally planned and have already over thirty stands booked - these include all the major apl vendors. you can be sure that they will all be doing their best to interest you and show you their latest and best products. the exhibition will be open the whole time during the conference so there will be plenty of time to look at every product that takes your fancy. the stand staff too will be able to answer your questions and deal fully and unhastily with each enquiry. for detailed expositions and particularly for new and enhanced product launches there are product forums. these are half hour presentations by vendors in the lecture theatres during the period between the end of the contributed paper sessions and dinner on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. anyone who attends apl 86 can come away well informed about all the latest products from the main vendors. invited speakers, plenary sessions and other attractions our list of invited speakers is not yet final. we are still adding to it. the conference will be opened by dr. k. e. iverson. his subject is "the split in apl". most aplers would like to understand the differences between the enhanced versions of apl and few of us have the opportunity to find out for themselves. dr. iverson's introduction will suit people who have only ever used a simple apl and those who have some experience of enhanced versions. his aim is to clarify matters so that listeners can appreciate both the theoretical basis and the practical effect of the differences (and of the different states of implementation). on tuesday morning we have a panel session on "the apl entrepreneur". robert decloss and timo seppala are among the members of this panel which is being arranged by romilly cocking. other panel sessions are on the iso standard, on graphics (organised by theo formanek with giorgio faconti's help), on typesetting apl and on new implementations. on thursday 10 july from 2 pm to 3 pm povl skifter, the financial director of bang & olufsen will tell us about the bang and olufsen data workshop. the apl community is sometimes a bit too inward looking. mr. skifter will bring us a view from the outside and tell us what benefit the data workshop brings to his company and why it was done in apl. his talk will be followed, for those who are interested in more of the detail, by a paper from gert l. moeller, who worked on the project. there are two debates: in one neil mitchison will suggest that apl is not yet suitable for ai; in the other richard nabavi will argue that the enhancements to apl are doing nothing to help persuade more people to use it. these debates are formal arguments; they begin with a speech in favour from the proposer, and one against from the opposer. then a seconder on each side makes a short speech at which stage the chairman will invite contributions from "the floor of the house", in other words the audience. the last few minutes are taken up by a summing up; first the opposer and finally the proposer, and at the end there is a vote to see whether the "motion before the house" is agreed or not. our closing plenary session will be run under the chairmanship of mr. roy sykes, of whizbang fame (now managing director of optimation). we are sure of a lively close to the conference under his guidance. a tutorial volume too! the people giving tutorials and invited speakers have all been asked to contribute some suitable text to the tutorial volume. this will be a companion to the proceedings, but whereas the proceedings should be papers of original work, the tutorial volume can include material which is only partly new or which might have been given out at the papers presentation as a handout. we can also allow items of greater length in the tutorial volume (such as alan graham's apl2 idiom list, which was too long for the proceedings). both the tutorial volume and the proceedings will be produced in the same format as previous proceedings.