Some properties of APL programs

ABSTRACT

Some results of a study of the static usage of features of the APL language is presented. We compare several characterizations of APL programs with previously measured FORTRAN data, and discuss the significant differences observed. The verity of popular rumors and intuitions about APL programs is also examined. APL users appear to take advantage of the unique matrix features inherent in APL, but in general, use extremely heavily only a small fraction of the available features. The distribution of use agrees well with the so-called “80-20 rule”.

REFERENCES

• 1: D. E. Knuth, An empirical study of FORTRAN programs, Software - Practice and Experience 1(1971), 105-133.
• 2: APL Shared Variable User's Guide, Form SH20-1460, IBM Corporation, 1973, 34pp.
• 3: TSIO Program Reference Manual, Form SH20-1463, IBM Corporation, 1973, 31pp.
• 4: R. A. Kelley and J. R. Walters, APLGOL-2 A structured programming system for APL, Report G320-3318, IBM Palo Alto Scientific Center, August 1973, 29pp.
• 5: L. R. Harris, A logical control structure for APL, APL Congress 73, North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1973, 203-210.
• 6: W. Wulf , Mary Shaw, Global variable considered harmful, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, v.8 n.2, p.28-34, February 1973 [doi>10.1145/953353.953355]
• 7: R. A. Sykes, Use and misuse of APL: efficient coding techniques, presentation at SHARE XL, Denver, 1973.
• 8: Edsger W. Dijkstra, Letters to the editor: go to statement considered harmful, Communications of the ACM, v.11 n.3, p.147-148, March 1968 [doi>10.1145/362929.362947]

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications

          Nouns: APL

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features

General Terms:
Languages