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That's a cute writeup, but the author overlooked some important bits of history. For example, the original use of APL (before it was called APL and before anyo
by rdm 4y ago
That's a cute writeup, but the author overlooked some important bits of history.
For example, the original use of APL (before it was called APL and before anyone had implemented it as a programming language -- the reason Iverson joined IBM) was to specify the IBM 370 machine architecture.
In other words, it was being used to document how the CPU worked. And it was impressively successful there, distilling a large body of documentation into 2 pages.
This reduction in cognitive load, describing machine structure, is what made it popular back then. And this is what motivated the effort to implement it as a programming language.
(Also, if I understand correctly, there's also a relatively short and direct step from APL to the initial implementation of SQL.)
- jodrellblank 4y agoThe original use was to "to implement the world's first graduate program in "automatic data processing"" at Harvard; Fred Brookes volunteered to join in and "It was in this period that Iverson developed notation for describing and analyzing various topics in data processing, for teaching classes, and for writing (with Brooks) Automatic Data Processing. He was "appalled" to find that conventional mathematical notation failed to fill his needs, and began work on extensions to the notation that were more suitable." Then "Iverson joined IBM Research in 1960 [...] he was allowed to finish and publish A Programming Language and (with Brooks) Automatic Data Processing, two books that described and used the notation developed at Harvard. [...] At IBM, Iverson soon met Adin Falkoff [...] Chapter 2 of A Programming Language used Iverson's notation to describe the IBM 7090 computer. In early 1963 Falkoff [...] proceeded to use the notation to produce a formal description of the IBM System/360 computer then under design." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_E._Iverson#Harvard_(1955%E2%80%931960) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_E._Iverson#Harvard_(19...