Timeline of influential array languages

The following array family programming languages, and papers describing languages, have had a major influence on commonly-used APLs.


 * 1962: A Programming Language describes Ken Iverson's notation
 * 1966: APL\360 completed and used within IBM
 * 1968: APL\1130 released as an IBM Type-III Library
 * 1970: APL*PLUS is offered by IPSA and STSC as part of a time-sharing service
 * 1971: "A Generalization of APL", Jim Brown's Ph.D. thesis, describes a nested APL which later becomes the basis of APL2
 * 1973: APL.SV introduces shared variables
 * 1976: VS APL is IBM's first APL to interact with the host system
 * 1976 (approximate): SHARP APL splits from APL*PLUS
 * 1981: NARS is the first nested APL
 * 1981: SHARP APL adds boxes to the flat array model
 * 1983: Rationalized APL, a paper on Iverson's latest thinking on APL, includes the Rank operator added to SHARP APL later that year
 * 1983: Dyalog APL, based on NARS and the to-be-released APL2, is released
 * 1984: APL2 is IBM's take on nested array programming
 * 1985: A is Arthur Whitney's APL, the first to be based on leading axis theory
 * 1987: A Dictionary of APL describes a precursor to J
 * 1988: A+ adds a GUI to A and replaces it
 * 1990: J is Ken Iverson's new array language, with ASCII characters and based on leading axis theory
 * 1992: K ("K0"), Arthur Whitney's list-based language, first becomes available
 * 2006: NARS2000, a successor to NARS, is released
 * 2009: VisualAPL is the first .NET-based APL, but soon stops development
 * 2010: APL, a .NET-based language, is released by Dyalog Ltd., to be abandoned in 2012