Hello Jürgen,
The IBM 'APL2 Programming: Language Reference' suggests that
axis specification is not allowed with the first function in that
'Figure 7. Functions and Operators That Allow Axis Specification', page
45, does not list 'First' by the '↑' symbol, whereas ravel, catenate
and laminate are listed by the ',' symbol. The text under Figure 7 says
an AXIS ERROR occurs if a function or operator is not in the list.
ISO/IEC 13751:2000(E)' contains 'Table 4: The Form Table',
pages 71-74, which claims to list all syntactic-units for which
evaluation sequences exist. The first function with axis specification
does not appear in that table.
Yet Gnu-APL allows
↑[ 2 ] 3 3 3 ⍳ 27
1
which is the first scalar in the ravel of the argument and the axis
specification is being ignored.
Neither IBM or ISO specifications say that the first function
with axis specification is part of the language. I respectfully submit
that Gnu-APL should report an attempt to use first function with axis
specification as a syntax error.
Regards,
Fred
