APL has perhaps attracted more fanatic enthusiasts than any other statement-level language. Over the years I have used it and still use it for throwaway routines for which matrix algebra is the obvious, appropriate formalism. (It does execution-time bound matrix algebra superbly, but not much else.)
It is also a useful filter. In the days when it was more widely known and used I often asked job applicants what they thought of it, not because I cared much about their answers per se but because those who proved to know something about it usually also proved to be alert and intelligent, hackers in the good, old sense of that word. Jokes aside, its gnomic, read-only character is mostly in the minds of people who do not know much about it and/or matrix algebra. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
