Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!Edward_M_Cherlin
From: Edward_M_Cherlin@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: beginning language--APL
Message-ID: <28729@cup.portal.com>
Date: 8 Apr 90 23:15:36 GMT
References: <4900002@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 13

The question was what should be the first language for CS and non-CS 
students.  I run the U.S. half of a worldwide non-profit organization
devoted to making APL the first language.  For non-CS students the
rationale is that it is a math language which has been successfully 
introduced in elementary school, and for CS the rationale is that it is
a math and computer language suitable for math, science, computer design,
data processing, graphics, music and more.  This argument has been made
best by Prof. Alan Perlis, when be became chairman of the CS department
at Yale and made APL the first language for CS there.

My organization, I-APL Ltd. offers APL free for PCs, is testing versions
for Apple II and Commodore 64 for elementary schools, and is preparing a
version for UNIX.  We plan to publish source code.