5 ms·

APL\3000 – HP Journal – July 1977 [pdf]

75 points by i_don_t_know 8y ago

i_don_t_know 8y ago
The issue contains a lot of interesting information about the APL\3000 system, in particular, tricks used in the implementation. A complete list of issues of the hp journal is available at: http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/hpjindex.html http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/hpjindex.html
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Thanks for pointing it out. It is a gold mine of systems programming languages articles, in a world where C wasn't yet something that actually mattered.
drallison 8y ago
Those interested in the history of APL\3000 may find http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/write/memoirs/apl.html http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/write/memoirs/apl.html interesting.
glhaynes 8y ago
Slashes and backslashes got pretty wild in the '70s and '80s.
- rbanffy 8y ago
  There were lots of jokes about OS/2 being just half an OS.
leephillips 8y ago
Got to love Fig. 2. APL was the first language I learned, in 1976. When I was in the position to have to use Fortran, I was horrified. I have to write loops for everything?! But nowadays, I think array Fortran is quite nice.
- 3rdAccount 8y ago
  Because you at least don't have to write classes for everything? :)
CommieBobDole 8y ago
Looks like the author of this, Ken Van Bree is still around; he left Agilent in 2003 to start a construction imaging software business. Just did a presentation at the SPAR3D conference last month. https://www.spar3d.com/event/speaker/ken-vanbree-2/ https://www.spar3d.com/event/speaker/ken-vanbree-2/
jxy 8y ago
It's amazing how much a few KB of memory could achieve then. APL may perform extremely well on phones and watches nowadays. I can't believe no one is doing it. I have J on my phone, and it works well as an advanced programmable calculator.
unixhero 8y ago
mmm dat keyboard
- rbanffy 8y ago
  It was good, but the IBM beam spring ones were better. They still beat anything else, before or since. I've played with J, but APL, with the symbols, feels nicer. Even though it's almost impossible to dictate code to someone when pair programming.
  - Fellshard 8y ago
    There's a few videos on YouTube of someone demoing APL in a modern context, and dictating the meaning of the symbols aloud; it felt strangely cryptic, but I'm sure someone who's worked with APL for some time would probably be able to latch onto it okay.
    - unixhero 8y ago
      Maybe it's this guy https://www.youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22/videos
      - Fellshard 8y ago
        Ahh, to clarify: Not the keyboard, but the language itself, live-coding some things.
      - rbanffy 8y ago
        His keyboard reviews are awesome. It's keyboard porn.
  - drallison 8y ago
    There are English names for all of the special APL symbols so speaking in APL was both possible and common.
agumonkey 8y ago
that cover page is so damn glorious.. and fig 2 / page 5 is epic
mchahn 8y ago
In the first paragraph" "..its ease of programming and debugging." APL is one of the most unapproachable languages I every learned.

75 points by i_don_t_know 8y ago

The issue contains a lot of interesting information about the APL\3000 system, in particular, tricks used in the implementation. A complete list of issues of the hp journal is available at: http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/hpjindex.html http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/hpjindex.html

pjmlp 8y ago
Thanks for pointing it out. It is a gold mine of systems programming languages articles, in a world where C wasn't yet something that actually mattered.

drallison 8y ago

Those interested in the history of APL\3000 may find http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/write/memoirs/apl.html http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/write/memoirs/apl.html interesting.

glhaynes 8y ago

Slashes and backslashes got pretty wild in the '70s and '80s.

rbanffy 8y ago
There were lots of jokes about OS/2 being just half an OS.

leephillips 8y ago

Got to love Fig. 2. APL was the first language I learned, in 1976. When I was in the position to have to use Fortran, I was horrified. I have to write loops for everything?! But nowadays, I think array Fortran is quite nice.

3rdAccount 8y ago
Because you at least don't have to write classes for everything? :)

CommieBobDole 8y ago

Looks like the author of this, Ken Van Bree is still around; he left Agilent in 2003 to start a construction imaging software business. Just did a presentation at the SPAR3D conference last month. https://www.spar3d.com/event/speaker/ken-vanbree-2/ https://www.spar3d.com/event/speaker/ken-vanbree-2/

jxy 8y ago

It's amazing how much a few KB of memory could achieve then. APL may perform extremely well on phones and watches nowadays. I can't believe no one is doing it. I have J on my phone, and it works well as an advanced programmable calculator.

unixhero 8y ago

mmm dat keyboard

rbanffy 8y ago
It was good, but the IBM beam spring ones were better. They still beat anything else, before or since. I've played with J, but APL, with the symbols, feels nicer. Even though it's almost impossible to dictate code to someone when pair programming.
- Fellshard 8y ago
  There's a few videos on YouTube of someone demoing APL in a modern context, and dictating the meaning of the symbols aloud; it felt strangely cryptic, but I'm sure someone who's worked with APL for some time would probably be able to latch onto it okay.
  - unixhero 8y ago
    Maybe it's this guy https://www.youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22/videos
    - Fellshard 8y ago
      Ahh, to clarify: Not the keyboard, but the language itself, live-coding some things.
    - rbanffy 8y ago
      His keyboard reviews are awesome. It's keyboard porn.
- drallison 8y ago
  There are English names for all of the special APL symbols so speaking in APL was both possible and common.

agumonkey 8y ago

that cover page is so damn glorious.. and fig 2 / page 5 is epic

mchahn 8y ago

In the first paragraph" "..its ease of programming and debugging." APL is one of the most unapproachable languages I every learned.