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Learning APL
Note to contributors: Additions and corrections to this tutorial are welcome. Please keep in mind that it tries to be vendor neutral : where possible examples should work in any version of APL. Please make it clear when code is specific to a particular interpreter. |
This tutorial aims to teach some of the basics of the APL language.
It is adapted from an original version written to accompany MicroAPL's APLX interpreter which is available in PDF form.
The present version has been slightly modified so that examples should work with a number of APLs, including:
The core APL language is similar in all these products, although each vendor has added proprietory extensions. Where code is specific to a particular APL interpreter it will usually be indicated in the text.
Trying APL
The APL tutorial will be most effective if you actually try the example code in an APL interpreter. Several vendors provide free or low cost evaluation licenses:
To download a time-limited evaluation copy of APLX for Windows, Macintosh or Linux, visit MicroAPL's Download page
To apply for a free educational license, or a cheap (£50/€75) non-commercial copy of Dyalog APL visit Dyalog's Download zone
Installing the APL font
To display the material in this tutorial properly, you need to ensure that (a) your browser can correctly handle Unicode (UTF-8) encoding, and (b) that you have a suitable APL Unicode font installed on your system. Note that non-Unicode APL fonts like "Dyalog Std" or "Causeway" won't work!
Most modern Browsers (such as Internet Explorer 6 or later, Firefox v2 or later, Safari v3 or later) should be fine. However, we have found problems using Firefox v2 on the Macintosh (the Windows version is OK, and Firefox v3 on the Macintosh is OK).
APL code on this Wiki is encoded using Unicode UTF-8. It should display correctly provided you have at least one of these APL fonts installed on your system:
MicroAPL's APLX Upright Unicode font (http://www.microapl.co.uk/download/aplx_unicode.ttf). If you have installed a desktop version of APLX (full or evaluation copy), you will have this font installed already.
Adrian Smith's APL385 Unicode font (http://www.vector.org.uk/resource/apl385.ttf)
If you don't have either of these fonts installed, the Wiki's style sheets are set to fall back on Microsoft's Arial font. Some versions of this font (e.g. the "Arial Unicode MS" version which ships with the international support component of MS Office) do have the APL characters, but it is not a monospaced font. This means that code samples will display the correct characters, but may not be aligned correctly.
If you do not have either of the APL fonts listed nor a suitable version of Microsoft's Arial font, APL characters will not display properly.
Here's a sample of text which should display in the APL font:
X ← 3 3⍴÷⍳9 ⋄ Y ← DATA[⍋DATA] ⍝ A comment
It should appear in your browser something like this:
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(this is a picture, not text; it will always display APL chars)
If it looks more like this then you do not have the APL font installed:
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