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harperleeyesterday at 1:41 PM4 repliesview on HN

APL was designed to be written on a chalkboard (if I remember the story right). It is quite dense, and programs are quite small. Reading is slow and requires you to ponder about what was written. You can hold a lot of content in a small amount of 'ink'.

Now, an idea: HN is always complaining that an ipad (or any other tablet) is a consumption device, as it is not designed to be used with keyboard/mouse. Do any of you know if there is an app where you can write APL with a stylus, and has the ability to evaluate expression on the fly, similar to a repl? That would be an awesome thing to do.


Replies

shrubbleyesterday at 6:42 PM

The Raspberry Pi and probably other versions of Dyalog APL has all the characters visible across the window and is interactive with a REPL.

buescheryesterday at 3:11 PM

On-screen tablet/phone keyboards seem perfect for apl to me.

There’s an iOS port of J but it’s no longer available on the App Store.

show 1 reply
stirfishyesterday at 4:05 PM

Here's a demonstration where APL is written on a typewriter thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTpQ4Kk2wA&t=208