Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: How to Choose a Programming Language
Message-ID: <1991May10.083024.15828@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 10 May 91 08:30:24 GMT
References: <14309@ucrmath.ucr.edu> <1991May9.231820.26867@utstat.uucp> <14338@ucrmath.ucr.edu>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 20

rhyde@sisler.ucr.edu (randy hyde) writes:

>I use APL on the PC every now and then.  NOT ASCII.  A real APL character set
>using the graphics display.  We can all still poke fun at the APL character
>set though....   Actually, I think the line was poking more fun at the cryptic
>programs APL programmers *typically* write than the character set!

I'll heartily agree with this. We went over APL in programming paradigms class
last week, the prof wanted to get it over with quickly. He gave a brief
overview of APL and some of the operations, and I thought of this:

	It's been said that C programs look like random punctuation.
	Well, APL programs ARE random punctuation.

The prof also gave as an example an APL program that found the first N primes
-- it was about 20 _characters_ long and he told us it'd taken him about 75
minutes to convince himself that that was in fact what the program did...

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu