Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!mstan!amull
From: amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Subject: APL2/PC
Keywords: True, Blue
Message-ID: <491@e-street.Morgan.COM>
Date: 8 Nov 89 15:11:07 GMT
Organization: Morgan Stanley & Co. NY, NY
Lines: 33

There have been a couple of requests for this information from far-flung
corners of the globe. (New Zealand is flung pretty far from NYC, for example.)
I have bounced the mail a couple of times unsucessfully, so here's the post:

APL2/PC is a product of IBM. (International Business Machines Corp.). It has
a version that runs on 386 (32-bit) machines. The language is very close to
APL2, which runs on 370 style mainframes, with one or two minor exceptions.

I use both APL2/PC and STSC APL*Plus. They work OK, but like almost all APL
implementations, don't expect speed. APL2/PC has a bit more zip than the
version of APL*Plus I have, but both pale before the strength of any good
compiler. 

Quad NA is not available for APL2/PC. Another alternative for interfacing 
with compiled code is provided, but I have never got it to go at all. This 
is probably because I don't run PC-DOS, and use the IBM Professional FORTRAN
products. I much prefer Microsoft FORTRAN 5.0, and would rather use Pascal
anyways. (Are you listening, IBM?) 

APL2/PC is useful to me predominantly because I program extensively in APL2
on a vector 3090 all day long, and it's nice to have the small version of the
language running on my laptop for algorithm development. APL2/PC helps keep
me from using my home terminal too much, because the PC I have is ergonomically
about three generations beyond the 3279 terminal.

APL2/PC doesn't run in a DesqView 386 window. Qemm gets in the way. there is 
also no OS/2 version yet. Perhaps someday. 

Later,
Andrew Mullhaupt

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of Morgan
Stanley and Co, Inc.