<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 with many innovative features. It was originally written using a non-standard character set but now can use ISO8485. It is dynamically typed with dynamic scope. APL introduced several functional forms but is not purely functional.
Dijkstra got the size of it when he said that APL was a language designed to perfection - in the wrong direction. IBM once adopted APL - can one be ruder?
Versions: APL\360, APL SV, VS APL, Sharp APL, Sharp APL/PC, APL*PLUS, APL*PLUS/PC, APL*PLUS/PC II, MCM APL, Honeyapple, and DEC APL.
See also Kamin's interpreters.
["A Programming Language", Kenneth E. Iverson, Wiley, 1962].
(29 Nov 1995)