I got into a discussion with a retired neighbor about this and he wrote me I've written system software in assembly and C, when I was writing extensions to APL interpreters, but found those languages so much less agreeable than writing in APL that I switched to writing in another high-level language--English--when I left the APL world. (I avoided C++ and C# and Java; as a functional-programming fan, I dislike object-oriented languages.)
As to APL, even though it was originally a mathematical notation, its applications were not limited to math analysis. Back when, I used it to write database software, an editor, graphics software, airline scheduling software, and many other things. But certainly it has never been practical for system software except as a modeling tool (where it excelled). He worked with Ken Iverson at IBM and then at I. P. Sharp. He mentioned three APL-derivative languages, J, K and Q. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_(programming_language) From there you can link to the other two. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Carmen Vitullo Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 11:47 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: FORMAC was ABP I don't want to keep dragging this thread around but I always wonders what APL was used for? or what maybe our IBM guys was doing 8 hrs a day on an APL terminal ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
