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APL Wiki:Content guidelines: Difference between revisions
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APL Wiki:Content guidelines (view source)
Revision as of 12:51, 27 April 2020
, 12:51, 27 April 2020→What is APL?
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We do some things differently in order to support APL Wiki's focus on APL. | We do some things differently in order to support APL Wiki's focus on APL. | ||
== What is APL? == | |||
The APL Wiki is focused on APL, which is somewhat problematic because APL has no agreed-upon definition. We might say in a strict sense that APL, or "an APL", is a programming language that encodes [[Iverson notation]] in a text-based and machine-executable form, using the conventions established by the first such language, [[APL\360]]. However, because the APL Wiki should serve even remote corners of the APL world, we would like to take a broader definition of APL that also includes developed later that some people consider part of APL and some don't. Other definitions of APL or APL features might include: | |||
* The original [[IBM]] implementation of APL, [[APL\360]] | |||
* [[Ken Iverson]]'s ideas of what APL should look like, realised in [[APL\360]], [[SHARP APL]], [[Rationalized APL]], [[A Dictionary of APL]], and [[J]] | |||
* A language which is typically called "APL" by the APL community | |||
* A language that uses the central concepts of Iverson's APL, like [[array]]s as the fundamental datatype, [[glyph]]s to represent [[primitive]]s, infix notation, and [[Evaluation order|right-to-left]] evaluation | |||
* Developments adopted by substantial portions of the community of APLers, such as the [[nested array model]]. | |||
The APL Wiki takes no position on what can be called "APL", and this question is not important to its content (when in doubt, a controversial APL such as [[J]] may be called a "language" rather than an "APL" or "dialect"). Instead, an editor should consider the task of balancing how central a concept is to APL against its prominence and placement in the APL Wiki. Even a recent and niche development like [[Reverse Compose]] has a place in the Wiki, but most information about the primitive should remain on its own page and mentions on more central pages should be qualified in order to make it clear the primitive is not available in most APLs. In contrast, a topic like [[Outer Product]] can be mentioned anywhere, and omitting it from related articles like [[Inner Product]] or [[Each]] would be a mistake in emphasis. | |||
To be central to the concept of APL, a language needs '''adherence''' to APL principles and '''prominence''' in terms of its user base or in the APL community. Adherence is measured roughly by the definitions above: languages that satisfy more of these definitions, and more closely, adhere better to the concept of APL. Prominence is determined by how many people use a language, how many of these are part of the APL community, and how strong an influence the language has had on the development of APL. | |||
Keep in mind that many APL users are not very visible to the outside world and don't publish anything about their usage (especially after the decline of the [[APL conference]]). For example, you are unlikely to see recent material about [[APL2]], but it is still widely used, and it's reasonable to think these users will look to the APL Wiki as a resource. As an editor you aren't expected to know every prominent language in order to contribute, but please think twice before removing material about a language you don't think is prominent. Evidence that the language is still in use might include major companies using it, active support forums, or significant development on the language indicating that it makes enough revenue to support this development. Significant historical use is also a sign, as usage of a particular APL rarely dies out quickly. | |||
A language can be prominent even if it is very rarely used, or in extreme cases never implemented. This is the case for research languages that are important in developing features later picked up by more prominent APLs. For example, [[A Dictionary of APL]], while only an incomplete description of how one APL might work, strongly influenced [[J]] and subsequently [[Dyalog APL]]. [[Extended Dyalog APL]], used infrequently in the [[code golf]] community, has also had a significant influence on [[Dyalog APL]]. The APL Wiki should include information about these languages because they will likely continue to influence APL's direction in the future. However, it's also important to make sure that this information, which is of theoretical interest, doesn't interfere with practical content. It should generally be placed lower in articles or sections of articles, and the text should make it clear that this material probably doesn't apply to the reader's APL of choice, usually by specifying which language or languages it is taken from. | |||
== Notability == | == Notability == | ||