There is another fundamental and fascinating book of historic value, coming in two editions:
Brooks, F.P., Jr., and K.E. Iverson, Automatic Data Processing, Wiley, 1963 Brooks, F.P., Jr., and K.E. Iverson, Automatic Data Processing, System/360 edition, Wiley, 1969 It is a sister-book to "A Programming Language", it uses the same early APL notation, but to uninitiated it looks like a kind of algebraic pseudo-code. "These two books started as one, but the material grew in both magnitude and level until a separation proved wise." There is very detailed account of full spectrum of computer matter, from binary operations, "coding systems" (encoded representation of values), programming, hardware. The style very high-quality akin to Knuth. But there are interesting transitions from binary numerics to memory cores to magnetic drums and punch cards. Another systems books using APL (by co-author of book below): Gerrit A. Blaauw, Digital System Implementation - Automatic Computation, Prentice Hall, 1976 It also uses complete little APL programs, which can be executed, to illustrate every concept throughout alongside component diagrams. >From cover: "Empasized the use of interactive APL in a systenatic approach to both design and system verification ... with many examples taken from actual machine designs." Interesting is quoted observation from Leibniz foreseeing computers as a perfect instrument of exploitation: "It is unworthy for excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labor of calculation which could safely be relegated to anyone else if machines were used." -- Though proletariat of today may own their means of production. (must be added to APL/J Reference in Wiki.) > From: Joey K Tuttle <[email protected]> > > The book "Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution " by Gerrit > Blaauw and Fred Brooks uses APL expressions throughout to describe a > lot of different concepts and machine functional descriptions. The > original 1213 page book is now available as a 2 volume paperback > edition - you can find it at: > > http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Architecture-Concepts-Evolution-2/dp/0201105578/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1245862478&sr=8-1 > > I thought the reader reviews there were particularly interesting... > From: Roger Hui <[email protected]> > > Falkoff, A.D., K.E. Iverson, and E.H. Sussenguth, > A Formal Description of System/360, IBM Systems Journal, > Volume 3, Number 2 and 3, 1964. > > http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/032/falkoff.pdf > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jimmy Miller > Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 9:14 > Subject: [Jchat] The use of APL in describing systems > To: [email protected] > > > Taken from http://www.sigapl.org/whyapl.htm: > > > > "APL is a language for describing procedures in the processing of > > information. It can be used to describe mathematical procedures having > > nothing to do with computers, or to describe (to a human being) the > > way a computer works." > > > > I'm particularly interested in that last purpose; does anyone > > have any > > information on when and how APL was used in describing computers and > > related systems? I tried searching on my own and found a passing > > mention of its use in formally describing the IBM System/360, > > but I > > couldn't actually find said description. I would > > appreciate it if > > someone could point me to information on this use of APL. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
