from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
A Programming Language
APL
ISO 8485
<language> (APL) A language designed originally by Ken Iverson
at {Harvard University} in 1957-1960 as a notation for the
concise expression of mathematical {algorithms}. It went
unnamed (or just called {Iverson's Language}) and
unimplemented for many years. Finally a subset, APL\360, was
implemented in 1964.
APL is an {interactive} {array-oriented} language and
programming environment with many innovative features. It was
originally written using a non-standard {character set}.
It is {dynamically typed} with {dynamic scope}. APL
introduced several functional forms but is not {purely
functional}.
{Dyadic Systems} {APL/W} is one of the languages that will be
available under {Microsoft}'s {.NET} initative.
{ISO 8485} is the 1989 standard defining the language.
Versions: APL\360, APL SV, {Dyalog APL}, VS APL, Sharp APL,
Sharp APL/PC, APL*PLUS, APL*PLUS/PC, APL*PLUS/PC II, MCM APL,
Honeyapple, DEC APL, Cognos APL2000
(http://apl2000.com/), IBM APL2.
See also {Kamin's interpreters}.
{APLWEB} translates {WEB} to {APL}.
{Dijkstra} said that APL was a language designed to perfection
- in the wrong direction.
["A Programming Language", Kenneth E. Iverson, Wiley, 1962].
["APL: An Interactive Approach", 1976].
(2004-02-13)