APL logo

As of August 2024, APL does not have a logo like many other programming languages do. After a consensus at their September 9th 2021 webinar, BAA will head an effort to adopt a universal vendor-agnostic logo for APL. This article collects draft proposals for the universal APL logo. Feel free to [ add your own].

To leave feedback on or ideas for the existing proposals, see the |Discussion page.

For reference, the logos of a selection of other programming languages are illustrated here.

Cube Apple
This is a cube, which is a common APL motif, e.g. used for APL2 (including the book APL2 at a glance), APL*PLUS and Dyalog APL. However, one quarter has been modified to resemble a leaf, thus making the cube into an apple, another common association with APL. The leaf is supposed to hint at the Del which symbolises function definition and has been used in application icons for APL+ and APLX. The green colours come from IBM's modern Carbon design to honour IBM's role APL's history. The lettering spells out "APL" while also hinting at APL's usage of special glyphs; here  which look very close to the forms found in the widespread APL385 Unicode font.
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Nested Bitmaps
This logo is a reinterpretation based on the classic APL apple with the leaf styled as a filled Del which symbolises function definition and has been used in application icons for APL+ and APLX. The green colour comes from IBM's modern Carbon design to honour IBM's role APL's history. The apple is subdivided into a rectangular pattern which is supposed to invoke a matrix and the middle row in turn holds three 4-row, 3-column Boolean matrices to spell out "APL" as bitmaps. This matrix of matrices hints at APL's multi-dimensional nested arrays. The logo exists in various variations, and each comes has a version for light backgrounds and one for dark backgrounds.


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Script apple
This apple logo is a basic update of IBM's classic "I like APL" promotional, but with the leaf styled as a filled Del which symbolises function definition and has been used in application icons for APL+ and APLX. The colours comes from IBM's modern Carbon design to honour IBM's role APL's history. The script lettering commemorates APL's origins as handwritten notation and at the same time symbolises the ease with which APL is written. On dark backgrounds, the lettering would be produced in white rather than black. The logo also exists as a filled green version.


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Parallel Lines
This logo is from the cover of the original edition of Paul Berry's SHARP APL Reference Manual.


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Ligatures
This is Jon McGrew's reworks of an original design by Joseph DeKerf that used the ITC Avant Garde font. The original is arguably ambiguously APL/ALP, hence the alternative versions.


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Display matrix
This is the output from the classic  function when applied to the matrix.


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Quad APL
This is the design by LdBeth that plotted by the MetaPost program below. It is composed visually by Quad, And, Circle (Pi), Left Tack, and forms the stylized "APL". One day he needs an icon for his APL keyboard layout, and he spent an hour to do the sketching and wrote the code in his favorite font design tool MetaFont. The right one is the old, original one. There might be alternative glyphs, and he will gladly accept any interesting suggestions for improvements.


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Direction and Magnitude
The colors are taken from the Canadian flag.


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50 Years Apple
This is based on the logo that Dyalog Ltd. commissioned for APL's 50th anniversary, which was inspired by the original "I like APL" apple motif; the green colour also recognises this original motif. As with some of the other suggestions, the simplicity and single colour means that it would still work well when shrunk to the size of a favicon and could be rendered in black and white without loss of detail.


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APL Wiki
The APL Wiki logo encapsulates features of APL, is visually striking and takes an interesting new approach over traditional apple or cube designs. Its use here has already established its independent, community-wide use. It works in a variety of sizes and its simple black and white palette makes it suitable for all media forms. It could be enhanced with the letters A P L either underneath, or within the middle dots of the middle row.

Clearly, if you visit the APL wiki you'd expect to see the APL logo - and perhaps you already do.


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