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Revision as of 07:44, 12 September 2021

Welcome to APL Wiki,

458 articles about APL that anyone can edit

APL is an array-oriented programming language. Its natural, concise syntax lets you develop shorter programs while thinking more about the problem you're trying to solve than how to express it to a computer.

Running APL

Traditionally a commercial language, quite a few implementations are now free without feature limitations, several can be tried online, and many are open source.

Running APL ∙ Try APL online

Hello world

Taking up a new programming language can be a daunting task. While it can appear cryptic at first, you can learn to read, write and remember APL with little effort. There is plenty of material to help you in the process.

Introductions ∙ Learning resources ∙ Language overview

Who uses it?

APL is used by both hobbyists and application developers. There are active user groups all around the globe, many of these hold regular in-person meet-ups. There is also multiple online forums.

Case studies ∙ Job listings ∙ Community overview

Contributing

APL Wiki is an online open-content wiki; that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common knowledge resource. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content.

How to contribute ∙ New pages ∙ Wanted pages

Examples

APL's terseness means that substantial programs are expressible in a small space, relative to many other programming languages. Below are just a taste. Many more, and fully explained, examples are in the simple examples article.

Split text by delimiter

With the introduction of tacit programming, many functions can be expressed in fewer characters than even the shortest fitting name. For example ≠⊆⊢ is but three characters, while you would need five for the name Split:

Try it now!

      ','(≠⊆⊢)'comma,delimited,text'
┌─────┬─────────┬────┐
│comma│delimited│text│
└─────┴─────────┴────┘

Works in: Dyalog APL

Full explanation…

Conway's "Game of Life"

John Scholes is famous for the following implementation of Conway's Game of Life:

Try it now!

      ⎕←world←2 2 2 2⊤0 12 5 2 4 1
0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
      {↑1 ⍵∨.∧3 4=+/,¯1 0 1∘.⊖¯1 0 1∘.⌽⊂⍵} world
1 1 0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1 0 0
0 1 0 1 1 0
0 0 1 0 0 0

Works in: Dyalog APL, ngn/apl

Full article…

Further simple examples ∙ Advanced examples

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 | style="background:#f5fffa;border:1px solid #cef2e0;padding:0 1em" |
 <h2 style="margin:.75em 0; background:#cef2e0; font-family:inherit; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3bfb1; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Running APL</h2>
-Traditionally a commercial language, there are now quite a few implementations available to download for free without feature limitations, and several of these can be tried online without installing anything.
+Traditionally a commercial language, quite a few implementations are now free without feature limitations, several can be tried online, and many are [[List of open-source array languages|open source]].
 <p style="text-align:center">'''[[Running APL]] ∙ [https://tryapl.org/ Try APL online]'''</p>
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 <h2 style="margin:0.75em 0; background:#cedff2; font-family:inherit; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;>Hello world</h2>
-Taking up a new programming language can be a daunting task. While it can appear cryptic at first, you can learn to write and [[semantic density|read]] APL with little effort. A few introductory guides have been created to help you in the process.
+Taking up a new programming language can be a daunting task. While it can appear cryptic at first, you can learn to [[semantic density|read]], write and [[mnemonics|remember]] APL with little effort. There is plenty of material to help you in the process.
 <p style="text-align:center">'''[[Introductions]] ∙ [[Learning resources]] ∙ [[Language overview]]'''</p>
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 | style="background:#faf5ff;border:1px solid #e0cef2;padding:0 1em" |
 <h2 style="margin:0.75em 0; background:#ddcef2; font-family:inherit; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #afa3bf; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em">Who uses it?</h2>
-APL is used by both hobbyists and application developers. There are active [[:Category:user groups|user groups]] all around the globe, many of these hold regular in-person meet-ups. There is also a popular online [[APL Orchard|APL chat room]].
+APL is used by both hobbyists and application developers. There are active [[:Category:user groups|user groups]] all around the globe, many of these hold regular in-person meet-ups. There is also multiple online [[forums]].
 <p style="text-align:center">'''[[Case studies]] ∙ [[Job listings]] ∙ [[Community|Community overview]]'''</p>
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 | style="background:#fff5fa;border:1px solid #f2cee0;padding:0 1em" |
 <h2 style="margin:0.75em 0; background:#f2cedd; font-family:inherit; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #bfa3af; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em">Contributing</h2>
-APL Wiki is an online open-content [[wikipedia:wiki|wiki]]; that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common knowledge resource. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content.
+[[APL_Wiki:About|APL Wiki]] is an online open-content [[wikipedia:wiki|wiki]]; that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common knowledge resource. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter [[APL_Wiki:Content_guidelines|its content]].
 <p style="text-align:center">'''[[Help:Contributing|How to contribute]] ∙ [[Special:NewPages|New pages]] ∙ [[Special:WantedPages| Wanted pages]]'''</p>
 |-