3 ms·

What's the story behind those characters? Did old APL machines have custom keyboards?

hvs 3y ago
They weren't really "APL Machines" but computers used to run APL like IBM's APL2 had special keyboards like: https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product/1989-ibm-model-m-1391401-made-by-ibm-with-apl-keys/ https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product/1989-ibm-model-m-139...
- nsxwolf 3y ago
  Looks like Unicomp even makes a Model M with APL keycaps: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/00UA41P4A https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/00UA41P4A
kens 3y ago
An APL keyboard typically wasn't exactly a custom keyboard, but a standard keyboard with APL characters accessible through modifier keys. Often there were adhesive labels on the front of each key showing the special characters or you could get custom keycaps that had the special characters printed on the front. And of course many of the special characters were created through overstrike rather than separate keys. Way back, I programmed in APL on a DECWriter that had support for APL characters.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  I have a keycaps set imitating the classic Space Cadet keyboard (from Symbolics Lisp workstations). The Space Cadet had APL tops and fronts [1], but these caps only have the tops presumably because the cost to get keycaps printed on the fronts would be way too high. Frustrating though. I've thought about getting the rest printed on clear plastic adhesive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard#/media/File:Space-cadet.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard#/media/Fi...
Jtsummers 3y ago
It started as notation and grew into a language. The language retained the notation and so we get the special symbols. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)#His...
jodrellblank 3y ago
Math student Ken Iverson being annoyed at the inconsistency of math notation and its precedence rules decided to come up with a better one. "Iverson notation" or "the notation", he went through Harvard and became Dr Iverson, got picked up by Adin Falkoff at IBM when they were designing the IBM/360 processor and adapted the notation for the blueprints of how the thing would work, and then got rid of superscripts and subscripts and cut it down a little so it could become a line-based executable thing to run on an IBM/360 as a kind of matrix-aware desktop calculator / "A Programming Language" (APL). IBM made custom Selectric/golf-ball printer heads and keyboard overlays for it.
riskable 3y ago
They're "space runes" from ancient alien civilizations that allowed humans to briefly glimpse their technology.
- airstrike 3y ago
  https://spkeyboards.com/collections/semiotic-keycaps https://spkeyboards.com/collections/semiotic-keycaps
- rlupi 3y ago
  I am waiting for someone to write an APL descendant using Linear A... there is already a keyboard for it: https://shop.keyboard.io/collections/the-keyboardio-model-100/products/linear-a-keycaps-m100 https://shop.keyboard.io/collections/the-keyboardio-model-10...

hvs 3y ago

They weren't really "APL Machines" but computers used to run APL like IBM's APL2 had special keyboards like: https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product/1989-ibm-model-m-1391401-made-by-ibm-with-apl-keys/ https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product/1989-ibm-model-m-139...

nsxwolf 3y ago
Looks like Unicomp even makes a Model M with APL keycaps: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/00UA41P4A https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/00UA41P4A

kens 3y ago

An APL keyboard typically wasn't exactly a custom keyboard, but a standard keyboard with APL characters accessible through modifier keys. Often there were adhesive labels on the front of each key showing the special characters or you could get custom keycaps that had the special characters printed on the front. And of course many of the special characters were created through overstrike rather than separate keys. Way back, I programmed in APL on a DECWriter that had support for APL characters.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
I have a keycaps set imitating the classic Space Cadet keyboard (from Symbolics Lisp workstations). The Space Cadet had APL tops and fronts [1], but these caps only have the tops presumably because the cost to get keycaps printed on the fronts would be way too high. Frustrating though. I've thought about getting the rest printed on clear plastic adhesive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard#/media/File:Space-cadet.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard#/media/Fi...

Jtsummers 3y ago

It started as notation and grew into a language. The language retained the notation and so we get the special symbols. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)#His...

jodrellblank 3y ago

Math student Ken Iverson being annoyed at the inconsistency of math notation and its precedence rules decided to come up with a better one. "Iverson notation" or "the notation", he went through Harvard and became Dr Iverson, got picked up by Adin Falkoff at IBM when they were designing the IBM/360 processor and adapted the notation for the blueprints of how the thing would work, and then got rid of superscripts and subscripts and cut it down a little so it could become a line-based executable thing to run on an IBM/360 as a kind of matrix-aware desktop calculator / "A Programming Language" (APL). IBM made custom Selectric/golf-ball printer heads and keyboard overlays for it.

riskable 3y ago

They're "space runes" from ancient alien civilizations that allowed humans to briefly glimpse their technology.

airstrike 3y ago
https://spkeyboards.com/collections/semiotic-keycaps https://spkeyboards.com/collections/semiotic-keycaps
rlupi 3y ago
I am waiting for someone to write an APL descendant using Linear A... there is already a keyboard for it: https://shop.keyboard.io/collections/the-keyboardio-model-100/products/linear-a-keycaps-m100 https://shop.keyboard.io/collections/the-keyboardio-model-10...