sxnahm@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Nahm) (03/20/84)
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A while back I asked if anyone has tried STSC's version of APL
for the IBM-PC. No responses were forth coming, but I've just
noticed that the March issue of Byte has a good review of that
version of APL, plus IBM's own. The review can be found on pages
246 through 264.
The reviewer, Jacques Bensimon, pretty much likes both versions,
but seems to favor STSC's APL*PLUS. He likes that version's
better handling of memory segments, better output formatting
method (traditional STSC []FMT), and still seems to harbor a
grudge against IBM for not including APL characters in the
IBM-PC's default character generator ROM (STSC provides a
replacement ROM; IBM uses the graphics adaptor, or tries to get
by with the default ROM).
Bensimon shows the results of various benchmarks, comparing IBM
APL, which requires an 8087 coprocessor, against STSC APL, both
with and without the 8087 (it's used automatically if available).
One of the benchmarks is an interesting chess problem solving
program, which is listed in the article. For the sample problem
which he used as the benchmark, IBM APL took 33.3 minutes, and
STSC APL took 28.3 minutes. The author comments that he'd be
interested in timings of this particular benchmark problem on
hardware more powerful than the IBM-PC, so have at it.
The review is informative, and Byte has included some useful
side-bars, including "A brief look at APL". This review is worth
reading if you're thinking of buying either of these two systems.
STSC APL*PLUS goes for $595 and does not require an 8087.
IBM APL cost $195, and requires the 8087, which costs $200-$260.
Steve Nahm
BBN Communications