APL - APL Prime question

Author

APL Prime question

wolffm0@hartwick.edu

2007-09-19, 3:58 am

I am very new to APL and have perhaps an unusual question. I am
trying to make sense of what I think is a reprinted APL program
written by Paul Braffort and published on pages 311-318 of _Atlas de
litt=E9rature potentielle_ by the Oulipo (Paris: Gallimard, 1988, ISBN
2-07-032500-8). The Oulipo is a group of writers who experiment with
mathematics to devise news ways to write with constraints. Some of
the group's work involves computers. Braffort originally wrote the
program around 1979 for The French Learned Society for Computer
Scientists, AFCET (Association Fran=E7aise pour la Cybern=E9tique
Economique et Technique). The program generates aphorisms by taking a
string of characters (the user's name) to select predetermined forms
and vocabulary. One possible aphorism generated by the program is "NI
LA SCIENCE NI L'IGNORANCE NE NOUS MANQUENT, MAIS L'OUBLI." Within the
code Braffort indicates APL Prime as (what I think is) the computer
language he is using. Is there any documentation available on APL
Prime? Specifically, are there particular system functions for APL
Prime such as ALPH that are not available in other APLs?

I am a literary scholar by training, not a computer programmer, so I
am not sure if I am asking the right questions. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

mw
--
Mark B. Wolff
Modern and Classical Languages
One Hartwick Drive
Hartwick College
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 431-4615

http://bumppo.hartwick.edu/~mark/

Dick Bowman

2007-09-19, 3:58 am

wolffm0@hartwick.edu wrote in news:1190175901.871361.44740
@n39g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

> I am very new to APL and have perhaps an unusual question. [... deleted
....] Within the
> code Braffort indicates APL Prime as (what I think is) the computer
> language he is using. Is there any documentation available on APL
> Prime? Specifically, are there particular system functions for APL
> Prime such as ALPH that are not available in other APLs?
>
> [... deleted ...]

There was (around about that time) a minicomputer manufacturer called Prime
with a version of APL (MIPS APL) for their hardware.

If I recall correctly one of their agents evolved into Dyalog (although
MIPS APL and Dyalog APL are not the same product) and it may be that one of
the longstanding Dyalog people have some detailed knowledge.

You really need to get the APL onto a modern interpreter, and this may be
tedious as Prime hardware has probably all died by now. If the author
thought ahead they may have stored their code in workspace transfer form
(or maybe the similar-ish) .ATF format.

If not, all isn't lost because APL is both interpreted and concise - so the
source is probably straightforward to re-enter for a modern interpreter.

As to language specifics - this is quite old code and I'd anticipate that
the core APL is probably quite standard.

But the only MIPS APL documentation I have is a couple of beermats.

Stephen Taylor

2007-09-19, 6:58 pm

Dear Mark Wolff

I have heard of the Oulipo writers and am in your area for the next
w

. Sadly I am unfamiliar with APL Prime, but will do what I can to
help.

Stephen Taylor
Editor, Vector

Minnowbrook, Blue Mountain Lake, NY

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