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<<TableOfContents>>
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''Where to start — and with which APL? There are several to choose from.''		 Where to start — and with which APL? There are several to choose from.
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If you have no prior experience with an APL, no teacher and no textbook, your best bet is J from Jsoftware. You can download it free on a variety of platforms, including the Windows, Macs, Linux and the PocketPC. It requires no special fonts or keyboard mappings, and comes with substantial tutorial materials and the J Wiki.

There are contemporary textbooks for both the language itself and its use in mathematics. The J Forum is active, and helps and encourages new J programmers.		 If you have no prior experience with an APL, no teacher and no textbook, download [[NARS2000]], an Open Source APL interpreter, and make use of the excellent APL [[http://aplwiki.com/LearnApl/LearningApl|Tutorial on the APL wiki]].
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=== Open source ===
[[NARS2000]] is an Open Source APL which is strongly suggested for looking into the language as such. It does not come with any OO-features, this is subject to the commercial implementation.
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There are no textbooks on the other modern APLs; J is an honourable exception. The classic textbooks tell nothing about important features of modern APLs such as object-oriented GUI support, control structures, .NET interfaces, direct definition, namespaces and user-defined operators. But if you have a classic textbook, such as Gilman & Rose, you can use it to learn the basics of the language. '''A+''' is an APL originally developed by WikiPedia:Arthur_Whitney for financial-markets applications at Morgan Stanley, an American investment bank, where it has been used since the mid-1980s, and subsequently released under GNU Public Licence at [[http://www.aplusdev.org|aplusdev.org]]. The BAA built a '''Windows version of A+''', which you can download from the [[http://www.vector.org.uk/aflat/|BAA A+ project]].
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In this case, you will find the ISO-standard APL I-APL for Windows will serve you very well. You can download it free from this site. === Commercial APLs ===
==== Interpreted APLs ====
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== Open source ==  ||APL2 ||[[http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/apl/|external link]]||
 ||APL+Win ||[[http://www.apl2000.com/|external link]]||
 ||APLX ||[[http://www.microapl.co.uk/apl/|external link]]||
 ||Dyalog ||[[http://www.dyalog.com|external link]]||
 ||Sharp APL ||[[http://www.soliton.com/services_sharp.html|external link]]||
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A+ is an APL originally developed by Arthur Whitney for financial-markets applications at Morgan Stanley, an American investment bank, where it has been used since the mid-1980s, and subsequently released under GNU Public Licence at aplusdev.org. The BAA built a Windows version of A+, which you can download from the BAA A+ project. are primarily used for commercial programming and run on a variety of PC and mainframe platforms; see [[System/SupportedPlatforms | SupportedPlatforms]] for details.
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== Industrial strength == They are extensively documented but some offer little material to support new programmers. They are shipped with many features to assist working programmers and are excellent tools for general programming.
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APL2, APL2000, APLX, Dyalog APL and SHARP APL are primarily used for commercial programming and run on a variety of PC and mainframe platforms. They are extensively documented but offer little material to support new programmers. They are shipped with many features to assist working programmers and are excellent tools for general programming. ==== Compiled APLs ====
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While licences for these interpreters typically cost several hundred pounds, some vendors (eg Dyalog and IBM) offer licences for educational purposes either free or at large discount. MicroAPL and Soliton Associates offer free personal versions of (respectively) APLX and SHARP APL for Linux. [[http://forum.apl2000.com/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=65746cb3d23cf81a68ae03c5ea7c4e7a|Visual APL]] is an object-oriented, Unicode-based APL implementation which is fully-integrated with WikiPedia:Microsoft_Visual_Studio and produces truly managed code which fully inter-operates with any other .Net language, such as C# and VB.Net. An extensive collection of sample applications and detailed examples for VisualAPL are available at [[http://forum.apl2000.com/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=7af62b3872565f012a77b4e1956fbc1d|VisualAPL Forum]]
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Q is the latest APL from Arthur Whitney, tuned for fast execution and very large database queries. It sees most use in financial markets, where server licences sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Educational licences are available for teaching; contact KX Systems. ==== Pricing ====
While licences for these implementations typically cost several hundred pounds/euros/dollars, some vendors (e.g. APL2000 [both APL+Win and VisualAPL], Dyalog, IBM and MicroAPL) offer licences for '''educational purposes''' either free or at large discount. MicroAPL and Soliton Associates offer '''free personal versions''' of (respectively) APLX and SHARP APL for Linux.
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---- == Other members of the APL family ==
=== J ===
J is Ken Iversons latest attempt to improve APL. J is certainly closely related to APL, but in the view of most people it is not an APL dialect. For details see the [[http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/FrontPage|J wiki]]

=== Q ===
Q is the latest APL from Arthur Whitney, tuned for fast execution and very large database queries. It sees most use in financial markets, where server licences sell for tens of thousands of dollars. '''Educational licences''' are available for teaching; contact [[http://www.kx.com/|KX Systems]].

== Documentation ==

There are some excellent books available adressing the needs of beginners as well as advanced programmers. Look at BooksAndPublications for a list.

----

Contents

  1. Which APL?
    1. Self-starters
    2. Classic APL
      1. Open source
      2. Commercial APLs
        1. Interpreted APLs
        2. Compiled APLs
        3. Pricing
    3. Other members of the APL family
      1. J
      2. Q
    4. Documentation

Which APL?

Where to start — and with which APL? There are several to choose from.

Self-starters

If you have no prior experience with an APL, no teacher and no textbook, download NARS2000, an Open Source APL interpreter, and make use of the excellent APL Tutorial on the APL wiki.

Classic APL

Open source

NARS2000 is an Open Source APL which is strongly suggested for looking into the language as such. It does not come with any OO-features, this is subject to the commercial implementation.

A+ is an APL originally developed by Arthur_Whitney for financial-markets applications at Morgan Stanley, an American investment bank, where it has been used since the mid-1980s, and subsequently released under GNU Public Licence at aplusdev.org. The BAA built a Windows version of A+, which you can download from the BAA A+ project.

Commercial APLs

Interpreted APLs

are primarily used for commercial programming and run on a variety of PC and mainframe platforms; see SupportedPlatforms for details.

They are extensively documented but some offer little material to support new programmers. They are shipped with many features to assist working programmers and are excellent tools for general programming.

Compiled APLs

Visual APL is an object-oriented, Unicode-based APL implementation which is fully-integrated with Microsoft_Visual_Studio and produces truly managed code which fully inter-operates with any other .Net language, such as C# and VB.Net. An extensive collection of sample applications and detailed examples for VisualAPL are available at VisualAPL Forum

Pricing

While licences for these implementations typically cost several hundred pounds/euros/dollars, some vendors (e.g. APL2000 [both APL+Win and VisualAPL], Dyalog, IBM and MicroAPL) offer licences for educational purposes either free or at large discount. MicroAPL and Soliton Associates offer free personal versions of (respectively) APLX and SHARP APL for Linux.

Other members of the APL family

J

J is Ken Iversons latest attempt to improve APL. J is certainly closely related to APL, but in the view of most people it is not an APL dialect. For details see the J wiki

Q

Q is the latest APL from Arthur Whitney, tuned for fast execution and very large database queries. It sees most use in financial markets, where server licences sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Educational licences are available for teaching; contact KX Systems.

Documentation

There are some excellent books available adressing the needs of beginners as well as advanced programmers. Look at BooksAndPublications for a list.

CategoryGuides

WhichApl (last edited 2017-02-16 17:49:14 by KaiJaeger)