From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM,
	INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,4c42ac518eba0bbe
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
From: frsdes@aol.com (FRS DES)
Subject: Re: Programming language vote - results
Date: 1997/10/20
Message-ID: <19971020174101.NAA25131@ladder02.news.aol.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 282029686
References: <344BCED0.2D51@dynamite.com.au>
X-Admin: news@aol.com
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1997-10-20T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


In article <344BCED0.2D51@dynamite.com.au>, Alan E & Carmel J Brain
<aebrain@dynamite.com.au> writes:

> Now I think that APL has a place,
>but only in small, one-use throw-aways, and where terseness if vital (as
>in downloading complex programs over low-bandwidth data links). Probably
>other, similar areas as well. I'm glad it exists, as I'd hate to have to
>invent it!

Those of us who spend our full time working on multi-megabyte APL
programs, sold to Fortune 500 companies, written entirely in APL, disagree
with your notion of its "Place".  I woulf be the first toi agree that not
every task is best accomplished in APL (or any other single language), but
it is an excellant tool in a *wide* range of situations. Properly written
and commented, it need be no more obscure than any other programming
language.  I grant that it is possible to write particularly obscure APL,
but have you looked at the output of the "obfuscated C contest" lately. 
Idiocy canb be committed in any language.

>
>I once made the mistake of lending one of these C Hackers my old copy of
>"Structured Programming in APL" (a title that still leaves me gasping at
>the Oxymoron), and he's now a confirmed APL enthusiast.
>
APL does not *enforce* structured programming (neither does C), but
structured programming is perfectly possible (and not uncommen) in APL. 
Modern APL supports such control structures as IF/ElseIF/Else/Endif;
For/EndFor/ Select/Case/Case/EndSelect; Repeat/Until; and Do While/EndDo
which can aid the programmer in creating clear code, and can often improve
run-time speed as well.





              -David E. Siegel
               Software Developer, Financial Reporting Software (FRS)
               FRSdes@AOL.COM