Re: Programming?

[Bruce Smith <bruce@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >I took an APL class in college (along with a couple dozen
> >other programming languages), and I'd stay as far away from
> >APL as possible.
> I don't know what sort of APL class this was, what the goal were, etc.
> One of the areas that has been revised heavily since you and I were in
> college was how APL is taught, and how APL is used to teach things like
> the discipline of programming.
> 
> I never took an APL cource in college, but I monitored a couple later on,
> and some of them were TERRIBLE! I won't bother defending them. That was also
> a long time ago.

APL was taught by someone I took some other programming classes from.
I enjoyed his other classes.  Other than that, I don't know how my
class rates amoung others.

> >It's nothing like any programming languages used today (other than a
> >few oddball applications still using APL).
> I don't understand the the use of the term "oddball". Is e-commerce oddball?
> Personnel systems? Banking? Manufacturing? Financial modeling? Insurance?

Is the word "nitch" better?

My point is:  if there was a pie chart of number of active programs
in the world broken down by programming language, I'd bet APL would
be in the < 1% slice.  Most places don't use it, and they never have!

> >I'd think it'd be more confusing than helpful.
> We must agree to disagree here, your experience with APL is more remote,
> casual, and (unfortunately) not as successful as my own. I'll stand by what
> I've said, done, taught, and accomplished over the years with APL.
> 
> I recall that a couple of years ago, we were all reading about that "oddball"
> OS -- Linux! :)

Is APL growing as fast as Linux?  Is APL growing at all?

I think a FIRST programming language should be something that's
commonly found in most workplaces, or at least vaguely resemble
a common programming language.  APL doesn't look like any other
programming language I've ever seen.  

--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
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