4 ms·

Long ago I was doing some analysis on a Sigma 5/CP-V machine. One of the few high level languages available was Xerox APL. For those without an APL keyboard th

Long ago I was doing some analysis on a Sigma 5/CP-V machine. One of the few high level languages available was Xerox APL. For those without an APL keyboard they provided ASCII replacements (I don't rember what they were, but looked like $NDX, $ASG). After learning APL with the awkward mnemonics I was never able to read it with the special characters! J does a much better standard-character APL.

dunefox 7y ago
Why don't these languages support latex-style symbols in the way Julia does? Even in the Repl: type \alpha<TAB> and you get α. Even Σᵢ is possible. This makes symbols accessible without a keyboard and the code is quite close to mathematical notation.
- clarry 7y ago
  Latex style is way too verbose, I would not want to type like that. And I think the input method should be a problem for your editor/OS to handle, not the language. In any case, symbols were abandoned back in the day when everyone was still using 8-bit encodings. [1][2] Nowadays you have e.g. Dyalog APL which does use APL symbols and you have short ascii-based sequences (easier to type than latex) for inputting them: `u`y gives you ↓↑ (You can try this online at https://tryapl.org/ https://tryapl.org/) [1] Remembering Ken Iverson (http://keiapl.org/rhui/ http://keiapl.org/rhui/) > For the first few months, the special APL characters and the ASCII spelling co-existed in the system. It was Ken who first suggested that I should kill off the special APL characters. I myself resisted for a few weeks longer, until the situation became too confusing, for reasons described in J for the APL Programmer. [2] J for the APL Programmer (https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/j4apl.htm https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/j4apl.htm) > J uses the 7-bit ASCII alphabet. It also makes non-essential use of the box-drawing characters in the 8-bit ASCII alphabet for display. Using ASCII avoids the many problems associated with using APL symbols. It allows J to be used on a variety of machines without special hardware or software, and permits easy communication between J and other systems.

dunefox 7y ago

Why don't these languages support latex-style symbols in the way Julia does? Even in the Repl: type \alpha<TAB> and you get α. Even Σᵢ is possible. This makes symbols accessible without a keyboard and the code is quite close to mathematical notation.

clarry 7y ago
Latex style is way too verbose, I would not want to type like that. And I think the input method should be a problem for your editor/OS to handle, not the language. In any case, symbols were abandoned back in the day when everyone was still using 8-bit encodings. [1][2] Nowadays you have e.g. Dyalog APL which does use APL symbols and you have short ascii-based sequences (easier to type than latex) for inputting them: `u`y gives you ↓↑ (You can try this online at https://tryapl.org/ https://tryapl.org/) [1] Remembering Ken Iverson (http://keiapl.org/rhui/ http://keiapl.org/rhui/) > For the first few months, the special APL characters and the ASCII spelling co-existed in the system. It was Ken who first suggested that I should kill off the special APL characters. I myself resisted for a few weeks longer, until the situation became too confusing, for reasons described in J for the APL Programmer. [2] J for the APL Programmer (https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/j4apl.htm https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/j4apl.htm) > J uses the 7-bit ASCII alphabet. It also makes non-essential use of the box-drawing characters in the 8-bit ASCII alphabet for display. Using ASCII avoids the many problems associated with using APL symbols. It allows J to be used on a variety of machines without special hardware or software, and permits easy communication between J and other systems.