AN INTRODUCTION TO APL

WILLIAM PRAGER
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in 2012

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An Introduction to APL
This book is part of
the Allyn and Bacon series

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES OF THE 70's

Consulting Editor
PETER WEGNER
Brown University
An Introduction to APL

WILLIAM PRAGER
University Professor of Engineering
and Applied Mathematics
Brown University

Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Boston

© Copyright 1971 by Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

470 Atlantic Avenue, Boston.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States

of America. No part of the material protected
by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, elec-

tronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any informational storage and
retrieval system, without written permission
from the copyright owner.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-150848

Contents

Preface vii

List of APL Symbols ix

Getting Acquainted With the System 1

1.1 Keyboard 1

1.2 Signing On 2
1.3 Signing Off 4
1.4 Correction of Typing Errors 5
1.5 Evaluation of Arithmetic Expressions 5

Arrays (part 1) 13
2.1 Multiple Evaluations of an Expression 13
2.2 Forming and Indexing of Arrays 16
Operator p. Operator I. Indexing.
2.3 Arithmetic Operations on Arrays 23
Monadic Operators. Dyadic Operators. Special
Operators.
2.4 Boolean Expressions 26

Defined Functions (part 1) 29

3.1 Defining Simple Functions 30
3.2 Branching 33
Growthtable. Quadratic. Zero.
3.3 Local and Global Variables 40
3.4 Checking Function Definitions 43

System Commands (part 1) 49

4.1 Starting a Library 49
4.2 Adding to a Library 52
vi Contents

Additional Operators 55
5.1 Dyadic Use of •, !, I , and O 55
5.2 Operators L, I", and ? 56
5.3 Operators ~, A, v, * , and * 60
5.4 Basic Operators 61

Arrays (part 2) 63
6.1 Arrays of Higher Dimensionality 63
6.2 Special Operators 67
Reduction. Inner Product. Outer Product.
Grade Up and Grade Down. Take and Drop.
Decode and Encode. Transpose.
Compression and Expansion.

Character Manipulation 85
7.1 Character Data 85
7.2 Operations on Character Data 89
7.3 Sorting, Coding, Decoding, and Translating 94

Defined Functions (part 2) 101

8.1 Headline Types 101
8.2 Branching 102
8.3 Labels 104
8.4 Checking Function Definitions: Stop Control 105
8.5 Editing Function Definitions 108
Insertion of a Command. Deletion of a Command.
Displays.
8.6 Error Reports 111
8.7 Recursive Functions 115

System Commands (part 2) 117

9.1 Digits, Width, and Origin 117
9.2 Inquiry Commands 119
Functions. Variables, Groups, and Group.
Library. Workspace Identification.
Status Indicator. Ports. System Information.
9.3 Library Control Commands 125
Reactivation of Stored Workspace.
9.4 Hold Commands 127
9.5 Trouble Reports 128

References 129

Index 131
 Preface

This book is an introductory text for classroom use or independent study, not
a reference manual. It consists of two parts comprising Chapters 1 through 4
and Chapters 5 through 9. After reworking the examples of the first part at
the terminal, the reader should be reasonably proficient in applying APL to the
solution of a wide variety of numerical problems. Study of the second part
will extend his knowledge of the language and enable him to handle nonnumerical
problems as well. At this stage, the reader should try to improve some of the
function definitions in the text. This will be possible because these definitions
were written with an emphasis on transparency rather than elegance. Finally,
to test his ability to follow complex function definitions, the reader may call

for the display of the definition of functions such as PLOT in Workspace

PLOTFORMAT of Public Library 1 . Further examples of this kind may be found
in the literature listed in the References.

There remains the pleasant task of thanking all those who, in various ways,
contributed to the publication of this book: Dr. K. E. Iverson of the Thomas
J. Watson Research Center of IBM for defining APL, and IBM for implementing
the language; Professor Peter Wegner of Brown University for the invitation to
write the book for the series; Professors C. Mylonas and R. A. Vitaleof Brown
University and Dipl. Ing. W. Munzner of the IBM Research Laboratory at Zurich
for their numerous helpful comments; Mrs. D. Archambault for the most careful
preparation of the manuscript; and the editorial staff of the publisher for their
splendid cooperation.

William Prager
Providence, Rhode Island

VII
 List of APL Symbols

The order of symbols in this list corresponds to their arrangement on the key-
board, starting with the top row of keys and going from left to right. Overstruck
and composite symbols are listed last. The letters d and D stand for basic dyadic
operators.

minus (as part of the specification of a negative number)

< less than
^ less than or equal to
= equal to
> greater than or equal to

> greater than

* not equal to
v or
A and
minus (as arithmetic operator)
+ plus

t divided by (dyadic); reciprocal of (monadic)

x times (dyadic); sign of (monadic)
? random choice (dyadic or monadic)
e membership of
P structure from (dyadic); size of (monadic)
~ not
take
4 drop
x List of Symbols

I index of (dyadic); integers up to (monadic)

O trigonometric or hyperbolic functions (dyadic); pi times (monadic)
* to the power (dyadic); e to the power (monadic)
-* branch to command
<- specified as

T the greater one of (dyadic); integer just above (monadic)

L the lesser one of (dyadic); integer just below (monadic)
V del (opening or closing of function definition)
A delta (in trace and stop control)
small circle (see comment and outer product)
t quote (to enclose character data)

H quad calling for output ( []«- ) or input ( «-D )

( ) parentheses (grouping of terms in expressions)

[ ] brackets (enclosing indices of arrays)

1 decode
T encode
remainder of (dyadic); absolute value of (monadic)
; semicolon (to separate indices of a matrix or an array of higher dimen-
sionality)

» catenate with (dyadic); unravel (monadic)

: colon (to separate label from command)
decimal point
\ expand
/ compress
V- nor
* nand
<\) rotate (dyadic); reverse (monadic)

$ logarithm for any base (dyadic); base e (monadic)

^ transpose (dyadic or monadic)

^7 grade down
A grade up
! number of combinations (dyadic); factorial (monadic)

PI quote-quad (calling for character input <-H )

ft comment
I system information
dI reduction with respect to last index
1

df reduction with respect to first index

d.D inner product
°.d outer product
 1 Getting Acquainted
With the System

APL (A Programming Language) is best learned at the terminal. After

studying a section of this book, the reader should repeat the exam-
ples at the terminal before proceeding to the next section. To enable
the reader to follow this advice, the present chapter begins with brief
sections on the APL keyboard, the procedures for signing on and off,

and the correction of typing errors. This is followed by a longer

section on the evaluation of elementary APL expressions involving
the most frequently used APL operators. Additional operators are
discussed in Ch. 5.

1.1 KEYBOARD

The APL characters appear on the front rather than the top face of
each key. Each key carries two characters. To type the lower one, it
is sufficient to hit the key, but if the upper character is to be typed,
the shift key must be depressed while the key is hit.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of the APL characters over the keys.
Numerals, letters, comma, and period are in the customary positions;

however, there are only upper-case letters, which are typed without
the use of the shift key. The shift key must be used for almost all

special characters; the only exceptions occur at the end of each row
2 An Introduction to APL

of keys and involve the characters + * (top row), « (second row),

[ ] (third row), and / (bottom row).

<< >>2VA-t
1234567890 =
+ x

? u e P
rsj
t * i o * -
Q W E R T Y u J 6> p <-

a r L V A o t
D ( )

A S D F G // J a: L c ]

C D n u 1 T 1 *
.
\
Z X C V 5 // M » • /

FIGURE 1.

APL Keyboard

'"
Note that there are two forms of the minus sign: the sign (upper
character on the second key of the top row) is used as part of the
specification of a negative number, e.g., ~4 ; the sign - (upper
character on the second to last key of the top row) is used as an
arithmetic operator as in 5-2 . The symbol for division is * (upper
character on the last key of the top row). Note that the solidus /

(lower character on the last key of the bottom row) cannot be used
in the place of t . The zero (lower character on the third to last key
of the top row) and the letter cannot be used interchangeably.

1.2 SIGNING ON

Since several types of terminals and several types of connections

between terminal and central computer are available for APL sys-
tems, local instructions must be consulted for precise information
on sign-on and sign-off procedures. For the purpose of the following
qualitative description, it will be assumed that an IBM 2741 Com-
munications Terminal and a DATA SET acoustic coupler are used.
 Getting Acquainted With the System 3

Every authorized APL user has an account number. In the discussion

below, this number is assumed to be 9999. Sign-on instructions for

the assumed equipment are as follows:

(a) Make sure that the terminal switch marked LCL/COM at the

left side of the terminal is in position COM, and the switch

ON/OFF of the keyboard is in position ON.

(b) Lift receiver of the phone next to the terminal and dial one
of the numbers listed in you get the
the local instructions. If

busy signal or no answer after a few rings, hang up and try

again using another one of these numbers. If you get a high-
pitched continuing tone, cradle the receiver on DATA SET
with the receiver flex at the far end.

(c) Before trying to sign on, check whether the keyboard is un-
locked, i.e., whether depressing the shift key produces a

rotation of the typing element.

(d) If the keyboard is unlocked and you are signing on for the
first time, type a closing parenthesis followed without blanks
by your account number:

)9999

and depress the RETURN key. The response should be a line

giving the number of your port (terminal), the time and date
of your sign-on, and your user code, which is distinct from
your account number. This is followed by a blank line and
by the headline A P L \ 3 6 . You are now ready to
start using the computer.

(e) If, at the time you are trying to sign on, somebody is in-

advertently or fraudulently signed on under your account

number, you will receive the message

NUMBER IN USE

and will not be able to sign on until the other user has signed
off. To protect yourself against being locked out in this
4 An Introduction to APL

fashion, you should use a password consisting of up to eight

letters or digits, without blanks. Your complete identification
for signing on will then be your account number followed
without blanks by followed without blanks by your
a colon,

password. Thus, ifyou had chosen the password LOCK in

signing off last (see Sec. 1.3), you would sign on by typing

)9999:LOCK

It is good practice to change your password at regular inter-

vals. If, however, you forget your password (or your account
number), the response to your attempt to sign on will be

NUMBER NOT IN SYSTEM

Before discussing the evaluation of arithmetic expressions, we will

describe the termination of a work session.

1.3 SIGNING OFF

It is most important that each work session be terminated by an

appropriate sign-off procedure. The instructions for this are as fol-

lows:

(a) If you have completed a computation and no longer need the

material from the current work session, sign off by typing

)OFF

and depress theRETURN key. When you next sign on, you
must then use the same password as for the current work
session. If, however, you wish to change the password, say to
NEWLOCK, sign off by typing

)OFF:NEWLOCK

and depress the RETURN key.

 Getting Acquainted With the System 5

(b) In either case, a three-line message will be typed that gives

the time and date of the sign-off, your user code, and ac-
counting information. After this is completed, turn off the
terminal by putting the ON/OFF switch of the keyboard in

the OFF position, and return the receiver to the phone.

(c) Ifyou have to interrupt a computation before it is com-

pleted, sign off with )CONTINUE or ) CONTINUE iNEWLOCK
depending on whether you wish to retain the old password
or change it to NEWLOCK. In either case, the material from
the current work session will be available when you next sign
on, and this availability will be indicated by a message that
starts with SAVED and gives the time and date of the last
sign-off.

1.4 CORRECTION OF TYPING ERRORS

While you are typing command or an expression that you want to

a

have evaluated, you may discover typing errors. If you have not yet
entered the command or expression by depressing the RETURN key,
these errors can be corrected as follows. Backspace to the first erro-

neous character, and depress the ATTN* key. The response to this
will be the symbol v typed under the first erroneous letter, indi-

cating that this and everything to its right have been erased. Now
complete the typing of the command or expression and depress the
RETURN key.

1.5 EVALUATION OF ARITHMETIC EXPRESSIONS

The APL symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,

and exponentiation, respectively, are + - x * * . The following
examples illustrate their use as operation symbols appearing between
two numbers (dyadic use). In each example, the first line, which is

indented by six spaces, states the arithmetic problem as typed by

'On some terminals, this key is labelled INT.

6 An Introduction to APL

the user, while the second, not indented, line is the response given by
the computer after the RETURN key has been depressed. In the
second example, note the raised minus sign used as part of the speci-
fication of a negative number. The customary minus sign is reserved
for use as an arithmetic operator.

13. 5 + 2187.
2500. 7
13. 5-2487. 2
"2473. 7
13. 5x200
2700
2700t13 .

200
12*2
144
2*0.5
1.414213562
5
The last example is concerned with the evaluation of 2° or \[2.
Note that up to ten digits of the result will be typed out unless you
specify another number, say 7, by typing the command )DIGITS 7,
and depress the RETURN key. The response to this command, indi-
cating the number of significant digits previously used, is shown be-
low together with a new evaluation of \f2. Note that the seventh and
following digits of the earlier, more accurate value were 3562. The
seventh (and last) digit of the new value is 4 as required by proper
rounding.

)DIGITS 1
WAS 10
2*0. 5
1.414214

The maximum number of digits that you may call for is sixteen.
Note that the DIGITS command does not limit the number of digits
you may use in input, nor does it affect the number of digits carried
in the computation; it simply specifies the number of significant
digits to which the result of a computation is typed out. It may,
 Getting Acquainted With the System 7

however, affect the form in which this result is presented. The fol-

lowing example illustrates the evaluation of the same product under

)DIGITS 5 and ) DIGITS 4.

) DIGITS 5
WAS 10
100.2x200
20040
)DIGITS 4
WAS 5
100. 2x200
2. 004£4

The last in exponent notation, is to be read as 2.004

result, stated

x 10 4 . 2.004tf~3 would be read as 2.004 x 10~ 3 Note

Similarly, .

that the exponent notation for a number consists of a positive or

negative number, with magnitude less than 10 but not less than 1,
that is followed without blanks by the letter E which is in turn ,

followed without blanks by a positive or negative integer. A number

may be entered in either ordinary or exponent notation. The exam-
ples below indicate how numbers are returned by the computer. If
D is the number of digits currently displayed (10 unless changed by
a )DIGITS . . . command), a number will be returned in exponent
notation if its magnitude is equal to or greater than 10 D or smaller
than 10~ 4 , unless the number was entered in ordinary notation as an
integer of magnitude less than "1 + 2*31 in which case it will be
,

returned in the form in which it was entered.

) DIGITS 5
WAS 10
1. 1£4
11000
1. 1£5
1.1E5
0. 0008
0. 0008
0. 00008
8£~5
100056
10 5 6
8 An Introduction to APL

)DIGITS 3
WAS 5
1.1B2
110
1.1E3
1.1E3
0. 0008
0. 0008
0. 00008
8E~5
100056
100056

In APL, the value of a composite expression, such as 4-1-3*8t2 ,

in which numbers alternate with dyadically used operators, is ob-

tained as follows: imagine the expression rewritten with an opening
parenthesis inserted after each operator and the corresponding clos-
ing parenthesis added at the end of the expression. Thus, the expres-
sion above becomes ^-(1-(3x(8t2) )) . To evaluate this, we must
begin with the innermost parenthesis.* This means that the original,

parentheses-free expression is evaluated from right to left. First 8 is

divided by 2; next the result 4 of this operation is multiplied by 3;

the result of 12 of this operation is then subtracted from 1 furnishing
— 1 1, which is finally subtracted from 4 yielding 15 as the value of

the expression. It will be useful to familiarize yourself with this

evaluation of composite expressions by doing some examples and
hand checking your results at the terminal.

To display the manner in which a composite expression is evaluated,

insert the symbol pair D«- to the left of each number except the last.
Each pair calls for the typing out of the result obtained as the ex-
pression is evaluated from right to left up to the considered pair. The
following lines show this kind of display for the example considered
above.

Q«-4-D«-1-Q«-3x[]«-8t2

12
"11
15

For brevity, an expression within parentheses is referred to as the parenthesis.

 3 5 e

Getting Acquainted With the System 9

Parentheses may be used to indicate modes of evaluation that deviate

from the rule formulated above. For example, the APL equivalent of

2 _ + 4 _
3 4 5 6

is ( 2 t 3 )-( 3 t 4 )-( 4 t 5 )-( 5 t 6 ). Note that the alternating signs in

the ordinary notation become minus signs in APL notation.

In a longer computation, the same intermediate results may have to

be used repeatedly. To avoid recomputing them every time they are
needed, one may use identifiers as illustrated by the following exam-
ple. The arrow indicates that the expression on the right should be
given the identification on the left of the arrow. Note that the paren-
theses in line 3 are needed if A2 + B2 is intended, because without
the parentheses, 2+B*2 would be taken as the exponent of A .

B«-3x4-2
U*2)+£*2
40
U*3)-£*3
208

In addition to the dyadic use of the operators + - x * * , APL

also allows their monadic use, in which case they are immediately
followed but not preceded by a number or variable. The monadic use
of + and - has the customary algebraic meaning; for example, + 1 5
and -15 are respectively equivalent to 1 5 and "15 . For x * *,
the following conventions are adopted. The monadic use of x fur-
nishes the signum function; that t 0*C or "l depend-
is, x(? equals l

ing on whether C is positive, zero, or negative. The monadic use of

t furnishes the reciprocal) that is, tC equals 1*C . Finally, the
monadic use of * furnishes the exponential function; *C equals
e
c Note that as a consequence of the monadic use of operators,
.

two or more operators may immediately follow each other as in t*C

and *-C which both equal e -c or in -*-C which equals — _c
, , , .

Other frequently used monadic operators are • ! I and ° . The

first two of these are formed by overstriking. For example, to obtain
10 An Introduction to APL

9 , type o (or * ), * (or o ). The

backspace once, and type
operator is formed
! manner by overstriking an apos-
in a similar

trophe and a period. The meaning of these monadic operators is as

follows: ®C is the natural logarithm of C, where C must be positive;
! C is the factorial of C, where C must be a positive integer* or zero,
the factorial of zero being defined as 1 C is the absolute value of ; |

C;and oC is C times n. Further APL operators are discussed in Ch. b.

The rule for the evaluation of a composite expression that was stated
earlier in this section must now be extended to include monadic as
well as dyadic operators. When an expression is ready for numerical
evaluation, the values of all quantities it contains must be known
regardless of whether these values appear in explicit numerical form
in the expression or are represented by the identifiers of variables. To
describe the manner in which a composite expression is evaluated,
consider, for instance, the expression of the symbolic form

(QoQooQ)ooQoQ

where each Q indicates the numerical value of some quantity and

each o indicates some operator. Note that the symbolic form of a
valid expression may contain the sequence oo but not the sequence
QQ.

The parenthesis in the symbolic expression above contains an expres-

sion that must be evaluated by the same rule as the considered
expression. For the purposes of the present discussion, the paren-
thesis may therefore be replaced by the symbol Q. The considered
symbolic expression is thereby reduced to

QooQoQ

This is scanned from right to left. The first operator encountered in

this scan cannot be interpreted monadically, because oQ would then

be a numerical value that could be represented by Q, so that the
expression would end with the invalid pair QQ. It follows that a

*When C is not an integer, I C is the value of the gamma function for C+ 1 .

 1

Getting Acquainted With the System 1

single operatorbetween two quantities must always be interpreted

dyadically. The symbols QoQ at the right of the considered expres-
sion thus represent a numerical value, and may therefore be replaced
by the symbol Q. The expression is thereby reduced to the form

QooQ

Here the right member of the sequence oo can only be interpreted

monadically; and oQ may be replaced by Q. It follows that the left
member of the sequence oo must be interpreted dyadically.

Note that in a sequence such as QooooQ only the leftmost operator

is dyadic; all other operators are monadic. For example, 3 + f ! 8 is

the sum of 3 and the reciprocal of the factorial of 8. The operators

t and ! are used monadically, but the operator + is used dyadic-
ally.

Note also that in the expression of the symbolic form

Qoo(QoQooQ)

the parentheses are unnecessary.

 Arrays (parti)

Much of the remarkable power of APL stems from the provisions

made for the manipulation of arrays of numbers or characters. The
first section of this chapter illustrates this remark by examples con-
cerning the evaluation of an algebraic expression for several values of
the independent variable. The subsequent sections treat the forming
and indexing of numerical vectors and matrices, and arithmetic and
Boolean operations on arrays of this kind. Additional material on
arrays is found in Ch. 6 (arrays of numbers) and 7 (arrays of char-
acters).

2.1 MULTIPLE EVALUATIONS OF AN EXPRESSION

As an introduction to the discussion of arrays, we shall consider an

important application of the array concept. It often becomes nec-
essary to evaluate an expression containing a parameter for a set of
values of this parameter. In APL, this is facilitated by the possibility
of regarding these values of the parameter as the elements of a vector.
For example, for a given interest rate, say 5%, we may wish to com-
pute the factor by which the value of a bank deposit increases in one
year if interest is compounded annually, semiannually, quarterly,
monthly, or daily, i.e., A/ = 1,2, 4, 12, or 365 times a year. The APL
formulation of the problem and the result of the computation are
shown in Example 1. The first line defines N as the vector with

13
14 An Introduction to APL

co
CT>

CD ^
CM I

^ c^
lo r*-

o to
CO
^ to
CO
tH
CO it
C"> O
CO to
tH
CO CM

LO LO
o I

tH CO
CO
CO
r- CO
CO CO
CO CO
LO CO
=t CO
tr> o
o
LO LO CM
CO o
CO =t
£^ LO
CM /<"""\ CO -• CM
r-i •i« xH
•l« LO CM /"> O
3- LO CM LO 5^ O
O CD Or)* •

CM O ^ O
O LO
•
O O w
vH +- o + i +
+ tH • >< £^ E-| &H LO
^«.

Uj
^ w rH CNJ

Uj O
-J -J
0.
^ LO I
^ o
X
Uj
•
T-i
3
Uj
 Arrays (part 1) 15

the elements 1, 2, 4, 12, 365. Note that in APL notation the num-

bers are separated by blanks rather than commas. The next line de-
fines the desired factor in terms of N, and the last line shows the
resulting values that this factor assumes for the five values of N.

As this example illustrates, an expression containing a single vector

as parameter represents a vector whose elements are the values that
the expression assumes for the successive elements of the parameter
vector.

As another example, consider the infinite series e

x = 1 + X + X2 1
2! + ... The evaluation of its first
. five terms for X = 0.05 is shown
in Example 2.

Note that in the third line the expression (X*N) * IN has been as-

signed the identifier T for easy reference in the next example. As a

consequence of this assignment, which implies later use of the nu-

merical values of the five terms of the series, these values will not be
automatically displayed but must be called for by the command T .

The following APL features facilitate the evaluation of partial sums

of series. If T is a vector of K elements and J is an integer not
exceeding K the vector consisting of the first J elements of T is
,

the value of the expression J \T Furthermore, the sum of the ele-

.

ments of T is the value of the expression +/T While the material .

from the preceding example is still available, the third, fourth, and
fifth partial sums of the series for e° ° 5 can be obtained as shown

below.

t/3+T
1.05125
+ /4+T
1.051270833
+ /5tT
1. 051271094

The fact that the last two

sums agree in the first six digits
partial

suggests that we have already obtained a good approximation to

005 Note that 005 is the factor by which a
e . e bank deposit would
16 An Introduction to APL

grow in a year if 5% annual interest were compounded continuously

rather than once a month or quarter.

APL also provides a simple means of alternately adding and subtract-

ing the elements of a vector. If T is a vector, the expression - / T is

evaluated by changing the signs of all even-numbered elements and

then summing the elements of the vector obtained in this manner.
Accordingly, the lines below show the evaluation of the analogous
-005
partial sums of the series for e .

-/3+T
0. 95125

0. 0512291667
-/5+T
0. 9512294271

A final example shows the approximate evaluation of e from the

fifth partial sum of the series

e 1 =2(1[
3\
+ ^
5!
+ • • + n
+ 2n)\
+ )•
(1

t2x+/( 15) • • l+ 2x \5
2, 718281843
*1
2 , 718281828

We have chosen a few operations on vectors to illustrate the power

of the array concept. These and other operations on vectors and
matrices will be discussed more comprehensively in the remaining
sections of this chapter.

2.2 FORMING AND INDEXING OF ARRAYS

The position of an element in an array is specified by an index or

several indices. For example, in a plane rectangular array, the posi-
tion of an element may be specified by stating that it is located in
 Arrays (part 1) 17

the third row from the top and the fifth column from the left. If the
considered array is denoted by M , the element in question would
be denoted by Ml 3 ; 5 ] . Note that in APL the indices of an element
are separated by semicolons rather than commas and are enclosed in

brackets rather than parentheses.

The number of indices needed to specify the position of an element

in an array is called the dimensionality of this array.* Arrays of the
dimensionalities 1 and 2 are known as vectors and matrices. Although
arrays of higher dimensionality may be used in APL, the following
discussion is restricted to vectors and matrices.

When dealing with arrays, we may occasionally find it convenient to

regard a single number (scalar) as an array of the dimensionality 0.

This extension of the dimensionality concept is consistent because

no indices are required to specify the position of the single element
in this kind of array.

Operator p

A vector V of, say, six elements will be said to have the size 6, and
a matrix M of, say, 3 rows and 8 columns will be said to have the
size specified by the vector 3 8 .t In APL, monadic use of the
operator p (rho), called the structuring operator, provides the size of
an array.

Thus, for the vector V and the matrix M above, p V and pM respec-
tively have the values 6 and 3 8 .Accordingly, pp7and ppMhave
the values 1 and 2, which give the dimensionalities of V and M.

*ln APL literature, the term rank is frequently used instead of dimensionality,
but this will not be used here to avoid confusion with the customary use of the
term rank in matrix algebra.

tin APL literature, the size of a vector is frequently called its length, but this
term will not be used here to avoid confusion with the customary meaning of
the length of a vector. Similarly, the term dimension, which is often used in-

stead of size, will not be used here to avoid confusion with the concept of
dimensionality introduced above.
18 An Introduction to APL

The structuring operator p is also used dyadically. For example, to

specify a matrix M of the size 2 3 , we start with the vector con-
sisting of the elements of the first row of M , followed by the ele-

ments of the second row and those of the third row— say, the vector
2 3 5 We then structure this vector into the desired
7 11 13.
matrix M by the command O+M+2 3p2 3 5 7 11 13, where
the symbol pair HR preceding M calls for the typing of the matrix
identified by M Note that pM and ppM furnish size and dimen-
.

sionality of M Note also that the matrix M may be reconverted to

.

the vector V from which it was formed by the command V*- M. In 9

APL manuals, the term "ravel" is used for the operation expressed
by the monadically used comma; the term "unravel" might be more
appropriate.

U+M+2 3p2 3 5 7 11 13

2 3 5
7 11 13

pM
2 3
ppM
2
Q+V+JJ
2 3 5 7 11 13

If this vector V is used to structure a matrix N that requires fewer

elements than are in V , only the leading elements are used. Simi-
larly, if V has fewer elements than are needed for N , the elements
of V are used repeatedly. The following examples illustrate these

structuring operations, and similar structuring of other vectors from

V.

2 2pK

2 3
5 7
 .

Arrays (part 1) 19

PV

2 3 5 7 11
13 2 3 5 7
11 13 2 3 5

2 3 5 7
9qV
2 3 5 7 11 13

Operator i

Vectors such as 1 1.25 1.50 1.75 2 or 8 6 4 2, in which

the difference between successive elements has a constant value, fre-
quently occur in applications. In APL, vectors of this kind are readily
specified by the use of the index generator i (iota). If N is a non-
negative number, \N denotes the vector consisting of the integers
from 1 through N. Some uses of the index generator are shown be-
low.

15
12 3 4 5
75+. 25xi 5
.

1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2

. 25x3+i 5
1 1.2 5 1.5 1.75 2
-14
"l 2 ~3 "4
10-2xi4
8 6 4 2
10

V+\ 1

Note that i is the empty vector, which is represented by a blank.

An important (but by no means the only) use of this seemingly use-
less vector is discussed under Indexing. Note also that i 1 , which
consists of the single element 1 , is a vector of size 1
20 An Introduction to APL

The index generator i is also used dyadically. If V is a row vector,

and E is the value of one of its elements, the expression V\ E gives
the position of this element in V . If the vector V contains several
elements of value E , the position of the first of these will be re-

turned. If, on the other hand, V contains no element of value E ,

the "position" returned will be 1+pK . If A is an array, VxA is the

array obtained by performing the operation Vx on each element of
A . The following examples illustrate these rules.

V+6 3 5 5
V\3

V\S

Vx2

A+l 5 6 2 3 6
VxA
15 2 1
M+2 3p/l
VxM

5 3 1
5 2 1

Indexing

When a vector V or a matrix M has been defined, individual ele-

ments or groups of elements may be selected by indexing. VI 5 ] de-

notes the fifth element of the vector V provided that this vector ,

has at least five elements. Similarly 7[2 4 5 6] denotes the vector

consisting of the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth elements of V .

Note that the command 7[12] in the example below produces the
message INDEX ERROR, beneath which the unacceptable command
is repeated with a caret suggesting what is wrong (in this case, that
the vector V has less than twelve elements). M[2;4] is the element
at the intersection of row 2 and column 4 of M . Similarly,
Ml 4 ; 2 5 ] is a matrix consisting of the elements at the inter-
sections of rows and 4 with columns 2 and 5. The examples op-
1

posite illustrate these and other indexing operations.

 Arrays (part 1) 21

Q«-y«-l + 2xi9
7 9 11 13 15 17 19

D+M+^ 5p\V

3 5 7 9 11
13 15 17 19 3
5 7 9 11 13
15 17 19 3 5

7[6]
13
7[2 4 5 6]
5 9 11 13
7[12]
INDEX ERROR
Villi
A
ilf[2;4]
19
A/[l 4; 2 5]

5 11
17 5
M[;2 5]

5 11
15 3
7 13
17 5
Mil 4;]

3 5 7 9 11
15 17 19 3 5

Note that Ml ; 2 5 ] is the matrix consisting of the second and fifth

columns, and Mil 4 ; ] is the matrix consisting of the first and
fourth rows of M .

Indexing may also be used to change individual elements or groups

of elements. For the vector V defined in the first line of the example
below, the third line redefines the fourth element as 0. The fourth
line calls for the typing of the new vector. Note that the substitutions
22 An Introduction to APL

called for in the sixth line are not made in the original vector V but
in the vector as changed by the preceding substitution. Similar
changes may be made in a matrix.

7«-l+i 9
M+3 4p7
7[4>0
3 40678910
V

7>1
7[3

3 10671910
V

M[l;2]«-5
M
2 5 4 5
6 7 8 9
10 2 3 4

Ml 2 3;1 4>20
M
2 5 4 5
20 7 8 20
20 2 3 20

It is often desirable to record successive intermediate results of a

computation as they are obtained and before they are transformed
by further computational steps. A convenient way of doing this is to
gather the intermediate results into a vector i? . In discussing this

we shall assume that each intermediate result is obtained, by the

task,

same computational steps, from the preceding one, and is therefore

assigned the same identifier, say A , as it is obtained. Having initially

defined I+-Q , we should like to increase I by 1 every time a new

intermediate result A has been found, and then execute the com-
mand R [ I ] +-A This . substitution of an element into the vector R is

only possible, however, if we have defined an initial vector 7? . If it

is known, for example, that ten intermediate results will be com-

puted, this can be done by the initial command i?«-10p0 which ,

forms a vector consisting of ten zeros.

 Arrays (part 1) 23

However, the number of intermediate results A may not be known

beforehand. These results may, for instance, be successive partial
sums of a series, and we may wish to continue the computation until

two successive partial sums agree to within a specified number of

digits. In this case, the catenation operator, which is the comma used
dyadically, proves valuable. If V and W are vectors, V % W denotes
the vector consisting of the components of V followed by those of
W . Using catenation, we may build up the vector R by the repeated
execution of the command R+R A, provided we have initially speci-
%

fied R as the empty vector by R*-\ Note that the comma used as
.

a monadic operator converts a scalar into a one-element vector as

shown below.

PA

2.3 ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS ON ARRAYS

Monadic Operators

If m denotes a monadically used operator and A is an array, mA is

the array obtained by performing the operation m on each element

of A:

A+-~2 3 4
-A
2 "3 ~4
xA
"l 1 1
\A
2 3 4
A+2 2p\4

1 0.5
0.3333333333 0.25
24 An Introduction to APL

Dyadic Operators

If d denotes a dyadically used operator and A and B are arrays of

the same size, AdB denotes the array obtained by performing the
operation d on each pair of corresponding elements of A and B .

When A is a scalar, AdB is the array obtained by performing the

operation d on A and each element of B .A similar statement
applies when A is an array and B a scalar. The following examples
illustrate these conventions.

A+1 3 5 7
£«-4 3 2 1
A-B
"3036
A*B
4 9 10 7
10x4
10 30 50 70
A+2 2pA
B+-2 2pB
AtB

0. 25 1
2.5 7

0.8 0.6
0.4 0.2

Note that the command S+A-A , where S is a scalar and A an

array, does not yield the scalar S but an array of the size pA , each
element of which has the value S .

Special Operators

If d denotes a dyadically used operator and A is a vector, d /A is

the scalar obtained by inserting the operator d between each pair of

successive elements of A and performing the operations specified in

this manner. Thus, d/A+-A [ 1] dA [ 2 ~]d .. .dA [ p4] with evaluation

 Arrays (part 1) 25

from right to left. It follows that +/A is the sum of the elements of
A , and x/A is their product. Note that -/A is the alternating sum
end of Sec. 2.1 ), and v /A is the quotient of the product of
(see the

allodd-numbered elements of A by the product of the even-

numbered elements. If A is a matrix, d/A is a vector with elements
obtained by performing the operation dl on each of the rows of A .

Similarly, d/A , where i is typed by overstriking / and - , is the

vector consisting of the elements obtained by performing the opera-
tion dl on each of the columns of A .

A+\ 10
+ /A
55
-/A
"5

3628800
S10
3. 6288£6
r/A
0.24609
(1x3x5x7x9)^(2x4x6x8x10)
0. 24609
A<~3 3pi9
+M
6 15 24
+M
12 15 18

Note that the polynominal c 1

+ c x + c3x2 +
2
• • •
+ cn + 1
x n may be
evaluated as +/Cx^*~l+ipC t
where C is the vector with the ele-

ments c^, c
2 , . . . , cn + 1
and n > 0. If the degenerate case n = is to
be included, the expression \pC in the command above must be
replaced by \ p , C because pC is empty if C is a scalar but has the
value 1 if C is a one-element vector.

If A and of the same size, their scalar product S is

B are vectors
defined as thesum of the products of corresponding elements of A
and B Thus, S is obtained by the command S<-+/A*B An alter-
. .

native command is S+A+.xB If and N are matrices, and U has .

;'.'
26 An Introduction to APL

as many columns as N has rows, their product P is defined as the

matrix with the typical element PCl;e7]«-+/M[I;]xtf[ \J~\ .Note
that for given values of I and J , the expressions .'.'CI; ] and
//[ i J] are vectors of the same size, and PCI; J"] is obtained by
multiplying corresponding elements of the two vectors and adding
these products. In APL, the product P of the matrices M and N is

obtained by the command P<-!'+ . x//.

Since it is sometimes necessary to take the transpose of a matrix (i.e.,

interchange its rows and columns) before it can be used as a factor

in a matrix product, APL provides the monadic operator § (typed

by overstriking o and \ to transpose a matrix; §M is the trans-
)

pose of M . The following examples illustrate the operations dis-

cussed above.

A+l 3 5
B+~2 1 3
+ /A*B
16
A+ x£ .

16

Af-*- 2 3pi6
//«-3 2p"3+i6
/•/+.x//

4 10
4 19

(WO + .x$Af
4 4
10 19

2.4 BOOLEAN EXPRESSIONS

If r is a relational symbol such as < and 4 and 5 are scalars, the

assertion A rB is attributed the value 1 or according to whether it is

true or false. Typical relational symbols are< < = > > * and e .
 .

Arrays (part 1) 27

The last of these asserts membership in an array. For example,

5el 4 8 asserts that 5 is an element of the vector 14 8; since
this assertion is false, the expression 5el 4 8 has the value 0. For
other relational symbols see Sec. 5.3.

If A and B are vectors of the same size, and r is a relational symbol

other than e , then ArB is a vector of the same size as A and B ;

its /th element is 1 or according to whether the assertion

AZllrBL II is true or false. AcB , where the vectors A and B need
not have the same size, is a vector of the size of A ; its Jth element
is 1 or according to whether the assertion A[_I~\eB\s true or false.

Note that the comparison demanded by a relational symbol is rela-

tive in the following sense: if two numbers agree to within a critical

10~ 13
amount called fuzz (approximately ), they will be regarded as
equal for the purpose of this comparison.

The following examples illustrate the usefulness of expressions of

this kind, which are called Boolean expressions. The expression that
is evaluated first has the value 1 for —1 < X < 1 and the value else-

where; the second expression has the value 1 — < X < 2 and
for 1

vanishes elsewhere; and the last expression equals — for X < — 1, 1

X for -1 < X< 1 , and 1 for X> 1

[>J«-0. 5x"i|+i9
"1.5 1 "0. 5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

011111000 l-( \X)>1

011111110 l-(*<~l)+*>2

*+(( 1-X)*( 1>X))+(1-X)*(X>1)

1 "1 0.5 0.5 1111
The last expression could also be obtained as ~1["1LX (see Sec. 5.2
for the operators Land T ).

If B is a Boolean vector, i.e., a vector consisting exclusively of ele-

ments with values or 1 , and if C is a vector of the same size as B ,

then B/C is the vector consisting of those elements of C that corre-

spond to elements of value 1 in B . If all elements of B are 0, then
28 An Introduction to APL

B/C is an empty vector. If 5 is a scalar, 1/5 is a vector whose only

element has the value S and 0/5
, is empty.

B+l 11
C+\ 5
B/C
14 5
S«-5p0
B/C

0+V+1/S+H

n+v+o/s

PV

X+2

((X<Y) 9 (X=Y) X>Y)/3

9 7 8
 .

Defined Functions
(parti)

In addition to e x and In X, which have already been discussed in

Sec. 1.5, the trigonometric and hyperbolic functions and also

the inverse trigonometric and hyperbolic functions are directly avail-
able in APL. The APL expressions for sin X, cos X, and tan X, respec-
tively, are loZ , 2o^ , ZoX , and cot X is obtained as t3oZ .

The argument X of the trigonometric functions must be given in

radians. If D denotes an angle measured in degrees, sin D, for exam-
ple, is found as 1 ooD 1 8
-:-
For the inverse trigonometric functions
.

arc sin X, arc cos X, and arc tan X, the notations ~ \oX , ~2o^
" 3oX are used in APL. For the hyperbolic functions sinh X, cosh X,
tanh X, and their inverse functions, see Sec. 5.1

If, in the course of a computation, some other function has to be

evaluated repeatedly for different values of the argument, it would

be inconvenient to write the commands by which it is computed

every time the function is needed. APL provides the possibility of
defining a function once and for all so that it can be used as readily
in a work session as the functions discussed above.

As has been seen in preceding sections, rather involved computations

may be specified by a single APL command. The first section of this
chapter deals with function definitions that consist of a single com-
mand. A more involved type of function definition contains several
commands that have to be executed in an order that depends on the

29
30 An Introduction to APL

values of data or intermediate results. A few examples of this type

are discussed in Sec. 3.2. The important distinction between local

and global variables is the subject of Sec. 3.3, and some ways of
checking function definitions are presented in Sec. 3.4. Additional
material on defined functions is contained in Ch. 8.

3.1 DEFINING SIMPLE FUNCTIONS

Let us denote the growth factor in the second line of the first exam-
ple of Sec. 2.1 by G . The commands
£+-13 5 4.2

G«-(l + 0.05x/V)*W

D*G
will compute the final value of a deposit of $1354.20 at the end of a
year during which compounded monthly at 5%. If we
it has been
then want to compute the final value of some other deposit— for
example, $2485.00 at 5% compounded semiannually for a year, we
may enter the commands
£+-2485. 00

N+2

DxG
While D and N must obviously be redefined, it is irksome that the
command for G must be retyped although it has not changed. To
avoid this, we may define a function called GROWTH of the variable
N once and for all as described below.

Whereas each of the commands above is executed as soon as it is

entered by pressing the RETURN key, the commands in the defini-
tion of a function cannot be so executed because the value of the
 Defined Functions (part 1) 31

argument is not known at the time the function is defined. To indi-

cate that we wish to change from the execution mode to the defini-
tion mode, we begin the headline of a function by typing the charac-
ter V (called "del"). This is followed by the identifier of the value
of the function (here G ), a leftward arrow, the name of the function
(here GROWTH ), which must differ from the identifier of its value,
a blank, and the identifier of the independent variable (here N ).

Thus, the headline of our function definition is

VG+GROWTH N

When this is entered, the response is [ 1 ] typed at the beginning of

the next line to indicate that this is to be the first line of the function
definition. We now continue this line by typing G«-(1+0.05t#)*/VV ,

where the final del indicates the desire to close the definition mode.
As long as the material from the current work session is we
available,

may call for this definition to be displayed by entering the command

VGR0WTHU21V as shown below together with the statements and
solutions of the problems considered earlier. Note that the final V
appears below the last line rather than at its end.

VGROWTHlOlV

V G+GROWTH N
[1] G+(1+Q.05*N)*N
V
1354. 2Q*GR0WTH 12
1423.48
2485. OOxGROWTH 2
2610.8

In the definition of the function GROWTH above, the interest rate

was set at the fixed value of 0.05. If we want to make the interest
rate R another independent variable of the function GROWTH we ,

may use R as a left argument and N as a right argument as shown

below, where the function definition is followed by an example in

which a deposit of $3000 is left for twelve years at 6.5% com-

pounded quarterly. Note that the first attempt to define the new
32 An Introduction to APL

function GROWTH was not successful; the old function GROWTH had
to be erased before a new function with the same name could be
defined. If it is desirable to retain the old function, the new one must
be given a different name, for instance GR0WTH1.

VG+R GROWTH N
DEFN ERROR
VG+R GROWTH N
A
) ERASE' GROWTH
VG+R GROWTH N
[1] G+(1+R*N)*N V
3000x(0.065 GROWTH 4)*12
6503. 51

An alternative way of defining a function that furnishes the growth

factor G as a function of R and N is to use the vector V+R N
t as
right argument:

) ERASE GROWTH
VG+GROWTH V
[1] ff^(l+y[l]*7C2])*7[2] V
300Qx(GROWTH 0.065 4)*12
6503. 51

Note that if there is only one argument, this must be the right argu-
ment.

Suppose that command [1] of the last function definition, we

in

forget to depress the SHIFT key while typing the operator * be-
tween VI 1] and F[2] and hence obtain a x sign instead of the
t sign. If the error is detected before the command is entered, it
may be corrected in the manner described in Sec. 1.4. If, on the
other hand, we have entered the erroneous line, then we have left
the definition mode on account of the terminal "del" of this line. To
correct the line, we must re-enter the definition mode, correct the
line, and leave the definition mode. This can be done by typing

VGROWTHll]G+(l+Vlll*Vl2])*Vl2lV
 )

Defined Functions (part 1) 33

While there are many other ways of correcting typing errors, it is

strongly recommended that, in the beginning, you restrict yourself

to those discussed above to avoid introducing further errors.

3.2 BRANCHING

The function definitions of the preceding section are particularly

simple, because each of them requires only a single command. A
definition consisting of a set of commands that are always executed
in the same order is not much more complex. Frequently, however,
a function definition involves a set of commands that have to be
executed once or repeatedly in an order that depends on the values
of data or intermediate results. We shall now some examples
present
to illustrate ways of specifying a more or less complex path through
a set of commands.

Growthtable

This function has as its left argument a vector P consisting of several

annual interest rates (stated in percent), and as its right argument a

vector N consisting of several annual frequencies of interest com-

pounding. The function furnishes a table of growth factors in which
each row starts with the relevant value of the interest rate and then
gives the factors by which a deposit left at this rate will increase in a

yearwhen interest is compounded with the various frequencies that

make up the vector N .

The desired table is typed out as a matrix T of J rows and K

columns, where J is the number of elements in P (command [1]
and K is the number of elements in N increased by 1 to accommo-

date the leading column of values of the interest rate (command [2] ).
The Jth row of this matrix is defined by command [6] which states ,

that this row should consist of the value PL II catenated by the

growth factors (1+0.01*P[J]tW)*# corresponding to P[ J] and
the elements of N This command, however, will only be acceptable
.

if the size of the matrix T has been specified in advance. This is

34 An Introduction to APL

j- U) h01 (N d- h
o in om w ton
0000000
co co zt zt in in to

co lo to 00 cr> tH zt
O LO OLO O
tO *H

0000000
co co zt zt in in to

^ LO LO in
* vH CO CO 3- d- LO in to
•— N»^ O
S5:
tH vH rH rH tH *H xH
1
—
H
i—j
ft, 6s
X S3
vM Ss
O ^
• O LO LO LO
r— fei O ft; CO CO d- J- LO LO tO
^ <s O O O O
BQ
L_J
CtJ^ Ow ^-VTHrHrHrH
PQ &3 <-N —
l 1 .-->

«q; ^ o *h H x
£h L^ q. + t_J LO
ft: O ^ Sf^
^ CS Q. • HV n +
O + »^> •• LO
ft; ft. wo
ft,
a.
4-4'4'4'4'
t-h »^ h lo m in
^5 >*-'i 1 cn

co co zt zt in in to

tH cm co zt m to r^
 Defined Functions (part 1) 35

done by command [3] , which provisionally defines T as a matrix of

J rows and K columns,
whose elements are 0. (Any other all of
number or array of numbers would serve as well, because these ele-
ments are later replaced by those specified by command [6] ). The
commands [4] [5] and [7] see to it that the variable I in com-
, ,

mand [6] successively assumes the values 1 1 2 , • • • 9 J . Initially,

I is set to by command [4] Command . [5] is a switch that either

calls for the computation of another row of the matrix T or termi-

nates the computation. Whereas commands normally are executed in

the order indicated by their numbers, the computation will follow

one of two or more branches every time a switch is reached. Particu-
lar care must be taken in writing the switch command to make sure
that it accomplishes the desired branching.

In an APL function definition, a switch begins with a rightward

arrow. If this arrow is not followed by an expression, the switch calls

for termination of the computation. If the arrow is followed by an

expression, the value V of this expression, or if the expression repre-
sents a vector, the value V of its first element, indicates the manner
in which the computation is to proceed. V must be a positive inte-

ger, zero, or empty. If V is the number of one of the commands of

the function definition, this command is executed next. If V is zero
or greater than the number of the last command of the function
definition, the computation is terminated. Finally, if V is empty,
e.g., if V+-0/S where S is a scalar, the computation proceeds to
,

the next command or terminates if the switch is the last command of

the function definition.

After the Jth row of the matrix T has been computed according to
command [6] command [7] thus effects
, an unconditional switch
tocommand [5] As the parenthesis in the . latter command is evalu-
ated from right to left, the current value of I is increased by 1 and
the new value of I , which is the number of the next row to be
computed, compared to the fixed value of J If the J"th, i.e., last,
is .

row of the matrix T has just been computed, this new value of I is
J" +l , and since the assertion J<I in command [6] is true, the
parenthesis has the value 1. Since 1/0 has the value 0, the computa-
tion is terminated. If, on the other hand, the current value of I is
36 An Introduction to APL

less than J , i.e., if at least one more row of T has to be computed,

the increase of J by 1 in command [6] yields a new value satisfying
J> I The . assertion J <I is therefore false and has the value 0. Now,
0/0 is empty; accordingly the computation proceeds to the next com-
mand (command [6] ).

Quadratic

This function furnishes the roots of the quadratic equation x 2 + c,x

+ c =0. It does not use a left argument; its right argument is the
2
vector C , the two elements of which are equal to the coefficients
c ,c
y 2
of the quadratic equation. The desired roots are found in terms
of a four-element vector 7?,with 7?[l] t i?[3] being the real and
i?[2], i?[4] the imaginary parts of the roots.

V R+QUADRATIC C
[1] i?+-4p0
[2] ZM0.25xC[l]*2)-C[2]
[3] -KZK0)/7
[4] i?[l>-(0.5xC[l])-£*v2
[5] /?[3>-(0.5xC[1])+Z?*t2
[6] >0 f /?[2]^i?[4]^0
[7] /?[ 1 ]«-/?[ 3 ]«—0. 5xC[l]
[8] i?[4]+-/?[2>( |Z>)*v2

QUADRATIC 1 6
3

QUADRATIC "^ 13
3 2 "3

QUADRATIC (("10 8)*3)

1.333333333

Command [1] of QUADRATIC provisionally specifies a vector R

with four elements of value 0. Command [2] defines the discriminant
D of the quadratic equation, which is used in command [3] to effect
appropriate branching. If D>0, the expression that follows the
 Defined Functions (part 1) 37

rightward command [3] is equivalent to 0/7, which is

arrow in

empty. next command to be executed is [4] On the

In this case, the .

other hand, if D<0 command [3] causes branching to [7] Each of

, .

the commands [4] and [7] begins a series of commands that defines
the elements of 7? for nonnegative discriminant (real roots) or nega-
tive discriminant (conjugate complex roots).

Note that the expression ,/?[ 2 ] in command [6] represents a two-

element vector because the comma indicates catenation. Since the
convention has been adopted that a rightward arrow in front of a
vector disregards all elements of this vector but the first, the com-
putation is terminated after the part of command [6] that is to the
right of the comma has been executed.

The first two uses of QUADRATIC shown above concern the equa-
tions

x2 +x-6 = and x2 -4x+13 = 0,

the roots of which are found to be

x 1
= 2, x 2 = -3 and x 1
= 2 + 3/, x2 = 2 - 3/.

The third example concerns the equation 3x 2 — 10x + 8 = 0, which

must first be brought into the standard form for QUADRATIC by
dividing the coefficients "10 and 8 by the coefficient 3 of the
quadratic term. Note that the argument of QUADRATIC in this exam-
ple could also be typed as ( "l 8)v3oreven "10 8^3. Note
also that, in many cases, a quadratic equation of the form a x 2 +
y

a2 x + a = has to be solved when the coefficients a^,a 2 ,a 2 , instead

3
of being given outright, are intermediate results of the computation
in the course of which the equation must be solved. It is then not
known in advance that a 1 =£ 0, and QUADRATIC must be replaced by
a more involved function that takes account of all special cases.

Zero

This function yields an approximation to a real zero of the separately

defined function FUNCTN when two values of the independent
38 An Introduction to APL

variable are given for which this function has values of opposite signs.
(A zero of a function is a value of the independent variable for which
the function has the value 0.)

V F+-T0L ZERO X
[1] -*(0<(FUNCTN Xlll)*(FUNCTN #[2]))/6
[2] -+(TOL>\G*-FUNCTN F+0 Sx + / X) / .

[3] -+(0<G*FUNCTN X[l])/5

O] +2 9 X121+F
[5] +2 9 Xin+F
[ 6
!
ERROR »

The method used to find the approximate value of the zero is called
binary search. It is an iterative method, in each step of which the
length of the interval known to contain a zero is halved. The itera-
tion is broken off when a value of the independent variable has been
found for which the absolute value of FUNCTN is equal to or less

than the tolerance specified by the left argument TOL of ZERO .

The right argument of ZERO is a vector X of size 2, #[1] and

X\_2~\ being the given values of the independent variable, for which
FUNCTN is supposed to have values of opposite signs.

Command [1] of ZERO checks whether Xl 1 ] andl[2] satisfy or

violate this condition, and respectively causes branching to either [2]
or [6] . In the latter case, the message ERROR is typed out and the
computation is terminated. Interpreted from right to left, the paren-
command [2] calls for the computation of
thesis in F<-0.5*(Xlll
+Z[2]),and evaluation of G+-FUNCTN F and the Boolean ex-
pression T0L> G | , where | G stands for the absolute value of G .

The value 1 of this Boolean expression causes branching to 0, i.e.,

terminates the computation. If, however, the absolute value of G

exceeds TOL , the computation proceeds to command [3] , which
effects branching to [5] or [4] depending on whether the values of
FUNCTN at Z[l] and F have the same or opposite signs. In the
first case, the zero lies between F and X[2'] . The substitution of
F for Xll'l and the return to [2] demanded by [5] thus initiate

the next step of the iteration. If, on the other hand, FUNCTN has
 Defined Functions (part 1) 39

values of opposite signs at XL 1 ] and F , the computation proceeds

from [3] to [4] and F is substituted for XL 2 ] before the branch
to [2] starts the next step of the iteration.

The function FUNCTN defined in the example below isx 2 — 3x — 2;

its right argument and value have deliberately been named X and F

to show that no confusion arises from the fact that both the function
ZERO and the function FUNCTN which appears in ZERO use the
, ,

same symbols for right argument and value.

V F+-FUNCTN X
[1] F*-~2+X*X-3 V

1E~6 ZERO 4
3. 561553001
0. 5x( 3+17*t2)
3. 561552813

G
7 . 775970516£~7

X
VALUE ERROR
X
A

Since FUNCTN has the values "2 and 2 , respectively, for the argu-
ment values and 4, there is a zero in the interval (0, 4). The com-
mand 1E~G ZERO 4 yields 3.561553001 as the approximate
value F of this zero. A check can be made of this result by solving
the quadratic equation directly via the command 0.5*( 3+17*0. 5)
which yields the "exact" value 3.561552813. As stipulated, the
variableG, computed in command [2] of ZERO and equal to
FUNCTN F , has an absolute value less than the tolerance 1E~6.

A more concise version of ZERO is shown on the next page together

with the evaluations of the same zero of x 2 - 3x — 2 for two values
of the tolerance.
40 An Introduction to APL

V F+-T0L ZERO X
[1] (0<(FUNCTN Xll])*FUNCTN *[2])/4
[2] + (T0L>\G*-FUHCTN F+Q.5* + /X)/0
[3] -+2 Xll+(0>GxFUNC TN *[ 1
9 ] >F r
)

[4] 'ERROR'
V

1£~6 Z£i?0 3 4

3. 561553001
1£~8 Z£i?0 3 4

3. 561552815

3.3 LOCAL AND GLOBAL VARIABLES

For the purpose of defining a function, its arguments and value must
be given identifiers. In the function ZERO , for instance, these are
TOL , X , and F . There is no need, however, to employ the same
when the function is used. For example,
identifiers for these variables

after specifying A+-1E~ 6 and B+Q 4 we may call for the evalua-
,

tion of, say, Z+A ZERO B Thus, the identifiers TOL

. X and F , ,

appearing in the definition of ZERO are mere dummies that may be

replaced by other identifiers when the function is used. After a func-
tion has been evaluated, the identifiers used for the independent
variables are associated with numerical values only if such values
were assigned to them by a command that preceded the start of the
function evaluation. Accordingly, the command X at the bottom of
the example on p. 39 brings the response VALUE ERR OR, followed
by a repetition of the unacceptable command below which the vari-
able without value is indicated by a caret. If, on the other hand, we

had called for the evaluation of a zero of FUNCTN by the commands

X+0 4
IE" 6 ZERO X
 Defined Functions (part 1) 41

the command X after the evaluation of the zero would have yielded
the initial value '+ , even though this value has been changed
during the execution of the function ZERO .

As the example on p. 39 shows, the final numerical value that the

variable G assumed just before the evaluation of ZERO was termi-
nated by the switch in command [2] remains available after this
evaluation. A variable whose value is only available during the evalua-
tion of a particular function is said to be local to this function; a

variable whose value is not restricted in this manner is called global.

All variables in APL functions are global unless they appear as dum-
mies in function headers or are specifically declared as local.

To avoid the inadvertent use of the same identifier for distinct vari-
ables,it is good practice to declare as local to a function all variables

whose numerical values are not likely to be required after the func-
tion has been evaluated or that can be readily recomputed should
they be so required. In ZERO , for instance, G could be declared as

local because its last value, if desired, can be obtained as shown be-
low.

U<-Z«-1E~6 ZERO i*

3. 561553001

FUNCTN Z
7. 775970516£""7

To declare variables as local to a function, they must be listed at the

end of its header, each being preceded by a semicolon. For example,
the header

V2VP GROWTHTABLE N\I\J\K

indicates that the variables i", «/, K are local to the function
GROWTHTABLE (see the beginning of Sec. 3.2), in which J and K
determine the size of the table and J is a counter used to terminate
the computation after J rows of the table have been obtained. The
42 An Introduction to APL

numerical values of these variables are obviously no longer needed

when the function GROWTHTABLE has been evaluated.

Note that the value of a global variable is not available during the
execution of a function that has a local variable with the same identi-
fier. For instance, command [4] could be omitted from the original
definition of GROWTHTABLE provided that the assignment J«- was
made before this function was invoked, but this change could not be
made in the definition in which I has been made local to the func-
tion.

Since the numerical values of the local variables of a function are

available throughout the evaluation of this function, they are also
available during the evaluation of a second function that appears in
the definition of the first function, provided that the second function
does not have local variables with the same identifiers. On the other
hand, local variables of the second function, while available during
its evaluation, are not available in the first function once the evalua-
tion of the second function has been completed. These facts are
illustrated by the example below, in which the function CONVERGENCE
uses the function AREA , which in turn uses the function Y .

The function N AREA B approximately evaluates the area bounded

by the X axis, the graph of the function Y X , and the lines with
the equations Z=5[l] and X = J3[2] as follows: the strip bounded
by these two lines is divided into N strips of equal width; in each of
these strips, the graph of J X is replaced by its secant, and the areas
of the trapezoids formed in this way are added.

The function P CONVERGENCE C displays the approximate areas for

#=2*P[1], 2*P[1]+1, ..., 2*P[2], the numerical values of the
elements of B being the same as those of C .

Although I is declared local to CONVERGENCE , it is available to

AREA , which is used by CONVERGENCE . On the other hand, if

CONVERGENCE , instead of listing each value of I followed by the

AREA
corresponding value of were to list each value of H (see ,

command [1] of AREA followed by the corresponding value of

)

AREA the variable H could not be made local to AREA Note that
, .
 Defined Functions (part 1) 43

no confusion arises from the fact that C is used as a dummy in

CONVERGENCE and as a local variable in AREA .

VCONVERGENCEtQlV

V P CONVERGENCE C\I
[1] I«-2*P[1]-1
[2] ->((2*P[2])<J«-2xJ)/0
[3] -*2,D«-J.(I 4P£V1 C)

V /!«# 4i?£A B;H;C

[1] i?-*-(B[2]-B[l])*ilf
[2] OB[l]+ffxi(tf-i)
[3] >W/x(+/Y C)+0.5x(Y 5[l])+7 B[2]

VJ[D]V

[1] F+X*2

5 8 CONVERGENCE 1 3
32 8.66797
64 8.66699
128 8.66675
256 8.66669

(Note that the exact value of the desired area is 26*3

3.4 CHECKING FUNCTION DEFINITIONS

To illustrate various means of checking function definitions that are

to be used in a computational task, suppose that the functions
CONVERGENCE and AREA of the last section were erroneously
defined as follows, while the function Y was defined as before.
44 An Introduction to APL

VC0NVERGENCEIQ1V

V P CONVERGENCE C\I
[1] J>2*P[1]-1
[2] ->(2*P[2]<J^-2xJ)/0
[3] +2,n^#,U AREA C)

VAREAIU1V

V A<-N AREA B;H;C

[1] #«-(£[ 2 U-SCl])*//
[2] C+Blll+Hx\(N-l)
[3] 4«-#x(+/y C) + 0.5(y B[l])+y S[2]

1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3

The attempt to execute 1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3 produces a

blank line, as the example shows. This suggests that command [3] of
CONVERGENCE, which would produce the first value of H followed
by the corresponding value of AREA , has not been reached, because
command [2] has effected branching to [0] instead of [3] .To check
what has gone wrong, we may request that the output from com-
mands [1] and [2] of CONVERGENCE be traced. This request and
the response to it are shown below.

TLC0NVERGENCE+1 2
1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3
CONVERGENCES'] 1
C0NVERGENCEL2]

TACONVERGENCE+0

It is seen that command [1] yields the correct result 1 (initial value
of I ), while command [2] furnishes the incorrect result (instead
of the empty vector, which indicates branching to the next com-
mand). Indeed, evaluating command [2] from right to left, we first

obtain 2 as the new value of I , then as the value of P[2]<2,

then 1 as the value of 2*0 , and finally as the value of 1/0, thus
 Defined Functions (part 1) 45

producing branching to [0] instead of [3] . For the latter branching

to take place, the final result from [0] should be the empty vector
0/0. To achieve this, we must type (2*P[2])<J instead of
2*P[2]<I. Before we make this correction, we cancel the re-
quest for a trace of CONVERGENCE as shown in the last line of the
example above.

The necessary correction can be made as described at the end of Sec.

3.1. In making corrections, we must guard against introducing new
errors. Suppose, for instance, that we attempt to correct command
[3] as shown below, inadvertently omitting the rightward arrow. The
attempt to execute the "corrected" function produces the report of
a SYNTAX ERROR in AREA [ 3 ] .

VC0NVERGENCEL21 ( ( 2*P[2] ) <I«-2xJ)/0 V

1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3

SYNTAX ERROR
AREAL31 A+H*(+/Y C)+0.5(Y 5[1])+Y 5[2]
A
)SI
AREALZl *
C0NVERGENCEL31
+
VAREA [3D1]
[3] A+Hx(+/Y C)+0.5(Y fl[l])+7 B[2]
1
[3] A+H*(+/Y C)+0.5*(Y S[l])+7 5[2]
[4] V

This shows the computation has now reached CONVERGENCE^],

which requires the evaluation of I AREA C The caret located .

under the reproduction of the incorrect command indicates the

source of trouble: the multiplication symbol between the factor 0.5
and the opening parenthesis has been omitted. To correct command
[3] of AREA , we would have to enter the definition mode. This,
however, cannot be done directly because the error report interrupted
the execution of CONVERGENCE To . find out exactly where we
stand, we call for a status report by entering the system command
46 An Introduction to APL

)SI , which stands for status indicator. The response to this lists all

currently active functions (i.e., functions whose evaluation has not

yet been completed), beginning with the most recent one, and indi-
cates for each the command whose execution is to be completed
next. An asterisk indicates that the function is in suspended execu-
tion. Before the erroneous function definition can be corrected, the
status indicator must be cleared by entering a rightward arrow for
each asterisk— in the example above, this means one rightward arrow.

Since the command AREA [ 3 ] is rather long, it would be bothersome

to retype the entire command just to insert a single multiplication

symbol. A more way is shown above. In the command

convenient
VAREAL3Q1], the 3 is the number of the command that is to be
corrected, and the 1 (or any other digit) indicates that we wish to
correct without complete retyping. In response, the current form of
the erroneous command is reproduced. Beneath the opening paren-
thesis following the factor 0.5, we type a 1 to indicate that the cor-
rection requires one empty space to the left of the parenthesis.*
Depression of the RETURN key yields another copy of the incorrect
command with the demanded blank space, and positions the type
head at this space. We now type the multiplication symbol that had
been omitted and depress the RETURN
The response to this
key. is

the number (here [4] of ) the next command (if there was such a

command). If we do not wish to change this command or add a com-

mand with this number, we enter a "del" to close the definition
mode.

The attempt to execute CONVERGENCE produces the report of a

VALUE ERROR, indicating that in CONVERGENCElS'] the value
of H is not defined. Inspection of AREA shows that // has been
made local to this function; its value thus is not available to
CONVERGENCE once AREA has been evaluated. We first ask for the
status indicator and then clear it. The next few lines show how the
header of AREA (referred to as AREALOl ) is corrected by using

*The digits from 1 to 9 may be used in this manner to demand the insertion of
up to nine empty spaces, and the letters A B C . . . may be used to
f f
indicate the need for 5, 10, 15, . . . empty spaces.
 I , ]

Defined Functions (part 1) 47

1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3

VALUE ERROR
CONVERGENCE^^! +2 ,Q<-H (I 4i?E4 C)
A
)SI
CONVERGENCES! *
—r

V ARE Al QUI]
CO] A+N AREA B\H\C
J
[0] A+N AREA B;C
Cl] V
1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3

0.5 8.75

0.25 8.6875

0.125 8.67187

0.0625 8.66

)SI
AREAL31 *
C0NVERGENCEL31

VCONVERGENCEL 2Dl
[2] ((2*P[2])<I«-2xI)/0
1
[2] -*((2*P[2])<J>2xJT)/0
[3] V
1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3
1 9
0. 5 8.75

slashes to indicate deletion of characters. The next attempt at evalu-

ating CONVERGENCE yields two correct lines of the result; however,

these are separated by a blank line that should not be there and are
followed by an apparently unending sequence of further lines. To
48 An Introduction to APL

interrupt this, we depress the ATTN key. The response to this indi-
cates the command whose execution is to be completed next. We
again request a status report and clear the status indicator. The fact
that the computation is not terminated shows that the desired
branching to [0] in CONVERGENCE^] is not performed. Inspection
of this command reveals that the rightward arrow has been omitted.
After this mistake has been corrected, 1 2 CONVERGENCE 1 3
finally yields the correct result.
 System Commands
(parti)

System commands, and only system commands, have a closing paren-

we have already encountered

thesis as the first character. Accordingly,
some system commands, namely the commands for signing on or off,
the )DIGITS command, the )ERASE command, and the )SI com-
mand. In this chapter, only a limited number of additional system
commands will be discussed, which are used in the organization and
maintenance of a library of function definitions.

The ease with which a user may build his own function library or
copy functions from a public library or another user's library is a

major asset of the APL system. The two brief sections of this chapter
show how a user may start his function library and make additions
to it. A more complete discussion of system commands is found in
Ch.9.

4.1 STARTING A LIBRARY

A workspace is a block of space in the computer's memory. Each

user is entitled to at least three workspaces: the active workspace in

which he is working, a workspace called CONTINUE in which the

active workspace will be stored if sign-off is with)CONTINUE, and
a workspace in which a library of function definitions may be organ-
ized.

49
50 An Introduction to APL

To illustrate the establishment of such a library, let us assume that

the system command )0FF was last used at the end of the work
session preceding the one in which the functions ZERO and FUNCTN
were defined, and that since then only the command )C0NTINUE
was used to terminate the sessions in which these functions and the
functionsCONVERGENCE, AREA, and Y were defined and tested.
The example below shows how a library containing the relevant func-
tion definitions from these work sessions may be established.

Because the systems command )C0NTINUE has been used at the end
of the last work session, the content of the CONTINUE workspace is

copied into the active workspace when we sign on. This is indicated
by word SAVED and the time and date of the
a line containing the

last sign-off. Note that the active workspace, which is a copy of the

CONTINUE workspace, now takes on the workspace /cfentification

CONTINUE. This would be displayed in response to the system com-
mand )WSID but this is not shown in the example. Since we may
,

not remember the precise contents of the CONTINUE workspace, we

call for a listing of functions in the active workspace by the system
command )FNS . The response to this reminds us that, in addition
to the useful functions AREA y CONVERGENCE, and ZERO , the
workspace also contains the functions FUNCTN and Y , which were
only used to test the other functions. We therefore erase FUNCTN
and Y by the next system command, to which there is no typed
response. A new command )FNS shows, however, that the desired
erasure has been performed.

Next, we use the command )VARS to call for a listing of global

variables in the active workspace that possess specific numerical
values. These are listed as G , H , and Z . The command G yields
the last value of this variable (see p. 39). Since this value as well as
the values of H and Z are of no interest in further uses of library
functions, we call for their erasure.

Because the function CONVERGENCE uses the function AREA , it

will be convenient to form a group composed of these functions.

Thisis done by the systems command consisting of the characters

)GR0UP followed by the identifier (ARCON ) that we wish to give to

 System Commands (part 1) 51

A P L \ 3 6

SAVED 11.03.50 07/01/70

)FNS
AREA CONVERGENCE FUNCTN Y ZERO
) ERASE FUNCTN Y
)FNS

GHZ
AREA

7.
)VARS

G
CONVERGENCE

775970516£~7
ZERO

) ERASE GHZ
) GROUP ARCON AREA CONVERGENCE
)WSID LI BR
WAS CONTINUE
)SAVE
11. 06.19 07/01/70 LIBR
) CLEAR

CLEAR WS
)COPY LIBR ARCON
SAVED 11.06.19 07/01/70
)FNS
AREA CONVERGENCE
)GRPS
ARCON
)VARS

) CLEAR

CLEAR WS
)COPY LIBR
SAVED 11.06.19 07/01/70
)FNS
AREA CONVERGENCE ZERO
) VARS

)GRPS
ARCON

the group and by the identifiers of the members of the group

(AREA CONVERGENCE). There is no typed response to this com-
mand. We now choose an identifier for our function library, say
52 An Introduction to APL

LIBR , by the systems command )WSID LIBR. The response to

this gives the previous identifier of the active workspace. Finally, the

command )SAVK is used to store the contents of the active work-

space as a function library named LIBR .

In preparation for an illustration of uses of this library, we clear the

active workspace by the systems command ) CLEAR , the response
to which indicates that we now have a clear active workspace.

If we need only the functions of the group ARCON we may, use the
system command consisting of the characters )COPY followed by
the identifier of the workspace (LIBR) containing the object (vari-

able, function, or group) to be copied, followed by the identifier

(ARCON of this object. Note that only one object can be copied at a

time. Ifwe had not formed the group ARCON we would have had
,

to use two copy commands to get both AREA and CONVERGENCE

copied. Note also that the entire named workspace (LIBR) will be
copied if its identifier is not followed by that of a specific object.

The response to our copy command indicates when LIBR was saved,
and the responses to requests for listings of functions, groups, and
variables in the active workspace show that we have the functions
AREA and CONVERGENCE and the group ARCON , but no global
more clearly
variables with numerical values. (To exhibit this absence
in the example, the paper has been manually advanced by one line

after the lack of a typed response was noted.)

As shown in the rest of the example, a copy command that does

is

not name a specific object (variable, function, or group) causes the

entire named workspace ( LIBR ) to be copied.

4.2 ADDING TO A LIBRARY

To show how additions may be made to an already established

library, let us assume that at the end of the work session in which
ZERO was defined and tested, this function was stored as the first

member of the library LIBR , that the command )OFF was used
to terminate this session, that the functions AREA and CONVERGENCE
 System Commands (part 1) 53

were defined and tested in subsequent sessions, which were termi-

nated by the command ) CONTINUE after the last numerical value
of the variable H had been erased.

A P L \ 3 6

SAVED 16.42.51 07/01/70

)FNS
AREA CONVERGENCE
)VARS
)GRPS
GROUP ARCON AREA CONVERGENCE
)

)C0PY LI BR
SA VED 16.40.47 07/01/70
)WSID LI BR
WAS CONTINUE
)SAVE
16.44.56 07/01/70 LIBR
) CLEAR

CLEAR WS
)C0PY LIBR
SAVED 16.44.56 07/01/70
)FNS
AREA CONVERGENCE ZERO
)VARS
)GRPS
ARCON

After signing on again, we examine the contents of the active work-

space and form the group ARCON We
as before. then ask the library
LIBR , which at this time contains only ZERO , to be copied into
the active workspace, change the identifier of this space to LIBR ,

and save the active workspace. The example shows that

rest of the
LIBR now contains the functions AREA CONVERGENCE, and ,

ZERO , no global variables with numerical values, and the group

ARCON.
Note that the command )SAVE is destructive in the sense that the
original function library isnow replaced by the new library.
 Additional Operators

In Sec. 1.5, only the most frequently used operators were treated,
and for some of them only their monadic use was discussed. Section
5.1 is concerned with the dyadic use of the latter operators, while
Sees. 5.2 and 5.3 introduce new operators in both monadic and
dyadic use. Basic operators are defined in Sec. 5.4.

5.1 DYADIC USE OF ®, !, / , AND o

The monadic use of these operators was explained at the end of Sec.
1.5, and some of the dyadic uses of o were mentioned at the be-

ginning of Ch. 3. In the following discussion of the dyadic use of

these operators, M and N will denote nonnegative integers, while
A and B may or may not be integers.

If A>0 , £>0,and A *1 , the value of A*B is the logarithm of B

for the basis A .

The binomial coefficient ( \N)*( !Af)x IN-M is given by the expres-

sion MIN. Note that Ml N has the values and 1 for M<N and Af=0,
respectively. For 1<M<N, the value of MIN may be interpreted as
the number of combinations of N items taken M at a time.

If A*0, the value of R+A \B, the residue of B modulo A , is the

55
56 An Introduction to APL

en
oo
en
CO
•

00
to J"
O CM
CM zt
O ID
CO O
• •

o o

cm en
-H O
r- oo
r- o
zf en
• •

o o

CO

co O
oo en r-
o o • Co
h m co > fei
o zt to fe:
oo co =t Cj H
• • >< • Co
o o uo o.

o — zf • Ctj x cm
tH :* oo o 55; ><
r* CM +- H O o
® CO H ^ CO H
O vH CO | h X LO
tH
CI
in
rH
cm
J"
.^tn
CM jj-
OO
+ \ o
IT) CO tH vH vH CO 4" I

CM 0- OCO ^-^LO >C0 H 00

oo en
O O CM CO
J- rH
(—1 00
CM vi
xH «H L_l O
 Additional Operators 57

smallest nonnegative number R such that B can be expressed as

R+N*A .If A = , then B must be nonnegative, and A IB has the
value B .

The meaning of MoA and ( -M)oA for 0<M<7 is given in Table 5.1.

TABLE 5.1

M MOA (-M)oA

(1-A*2)*0. 5 ( 1->1*2)*0. 5

1 sin A a resin A
2 cos i4 arccos A
3 tan 4 arctan A
4 (l+4*2)*0.5 (~1+A*2)*0.S
5 sinh A arsinh A
6 cosh i4 arcosh A
7 tanh A artanh A

The examples opposite illustrate the dyadic use of these operators.

Note the rounding of the positive elements of the vector A that is

achieved by means of the operator | . The function SINES evalu-

ates the series CjSin x + c 2 sin 2x + • • • + c^sin nx. The left argument
C is the vector of coefficients, and the right argument is the value
of X .

5.2 OPERATORS L, [\AND ?

Since these operators have not yet been discussed, both their mon-
adic and dyadic uses will be explained below, where M and N de-
note positive integers.

On the real number axis that is directed toward the right, the points
with the abscissas I A and [A are the points with integer abscissas
that are immediately to the left and right of the point with the
58 An Introduction to APL

""4
abscissa A . For example, L~3.2 and T 3.2 have the values
and "3 , respectively. If A is an integer, both IA and \A have the
value A .

The value of A\_B is the smaller of the values A and B . Similarly,

the value of A[B is the greater of the values A and B . Conse-
quently, l/V and [ /V yield respectively the smallest and greatest
elements of the vector V . The examples below indicate various uses
of the operators L and T .Note the last command, which provides
a convenient rounding of the elements of V to the nearest integers.

7«-~3.2 "3 4 4.6

IV
~4 "3 4 4
[V
3 "3 4 5
l/V
3.2
XIV
4.6
LKt0.5
"3 ~3 4 5

The function SMALL shown next uses the operations just discussed
to locate the indices I and J , and the value At I ;J] , of the
smallest element of a matrix A (or one of several mutually equal
elements that are smaller than any other element).

V S+SMALL A;V;I;J
[1] I+V\L/V+l/A
[2] J+V\L/V+L/A
[3] S+I t J,AlI;Jl
V

4«-3 3p4 26871351

SMALL A
3 1

The operator ? is used in connection with the selection of "random"

elements from a vector. In particular, the expression ?N represents
 Additional Operators 59

an integer randomly chosen from the elements of the vector \N ,

each element having the same chance of being chosen. For a given

value of N the expression ?N thus does not have a fixed value, as

,

is shown below by the response to the command ? ( 1 Op 6 ), which

corresponds to a tenfold repetition of the command ?6 Note that .

this response simulates the result of ten consecutive throws of a die.

If the command lOp 6 ) is given once more, the response differs

?(
from the preceding one— just as the next ten throws of the die do not
duplicate the first ten throws. On the other hand, after a clear active
workspace has been provided by the command ) CLEAR two suc- ,

cessive commands ?( 10p6 ) yield the same results as before. This

shows that there is some system to the "randomness," so that the
term "pseudo-random" would be preferable to the term "random."
For brevity, however, the latter term will be used here.

?10p6
1 5 3 4 2 1 5 5 6 3
?10p6
4 5 114
CLEAR
)
5 1 3 1 3

CLEAR WS
?10p6
1 5 3 4 2 1 5 5 6 3
?10p6
4 5 114 5 1 3 1 3

) WIDTH 5 5
WAS 120

11 10
(?36p6)+?36p6
7 12 8569886829
5
5
6
11
11
87
10
10
6
888536
8 7 10 10 9 2

Note the systems command ) WIDTH used to control the length of

the typed line. Note also that terminating a work session with )OFF
has the same effect on subsequent random operations as the com-
mand ) CLEAR . The last command in the example above simulates
the sums obtained in thirty-six consecutive throws of a pair of dice.

If M<N , the expression M?N represents a vector of M elements

randomly chosen from the elements of the vector \N , with the
60 An Introduction to APL

provision that any element may be chosen only once. Thus, N?N
is random arrangement of the elements of N and 2 ( 2*N)?2*N
a t , I

is a random Boolean vector with exactly N zeros and N ones. The

last command in the example below shows how a random arrange-

ment of the elements of an arbitrary vector may be obtained.

5?9
5 4 2 8 1

864 1 ?1
10 597213
1010101100 2

235813213455
V+l
| 1 ?1

Vl(f>V)?pVl
3 21 34 8 13 55 5 1 2

5.3 OPERATORS ~, a , v , * AND *

,

The operator ~ ("not") is only used monadically, and the operators

a ("and"), v ("or"), * ("nand"), and * ("nor") are only used
dyadically. In the following discussion of these operators, B and C
will be used as identifiers of Boolean scalars or vectors.

The value of the expression ~B is obtained from that of B by re-

placing each by 1 and each 1 by 0. For example, if the vectors B

and V have the same size, B /V is the set of elements in V that
correspond to elements of value 1 in B (see Sec. 2.4), and (~£)/7
is the complementary set of elements.

The expression BaC, where B and C are Boolean scalars, has the
value unless both 5 =1 and C = l , in which case BaC has the value
1. This meaning of the operator a is displayed below as the response
to the command 0011A0101 , and similar displays are
given for the operators v , * , and v .

In a function definition, the command -*8x( (#>5)a(Y<3)vZ=6

effects a branch to command 8 only if the assertion X> 5 and at least
one of the assertions Y<3 or Z = 6 are true; in any other case, the
 /

Additional Operators 61

computation is terminated because the expression following the

rightward arrow has the value 0.

B+ 1 1
V+l 2 3 4
B/V
3 4
( ~B ) V
1 2
O-O 1 1
5aC
1
SvC
1 1 1
B*C
1 1 1
B»C
1

v5iM/yc#[;n;]v

V B+BRANCH V
[1] 5^-8x((7[1]>5)a(7[2]<3)v7[3]=6)
V
BRANCH 7 2 4
8
BRANCH 7 2 6
8
BRANCH 5 2 'I

5.4 BASIC OPERATORS

In the following, the monadically or dyadically used operators

+ - x ? * e ! | LTo, the monadically used operators ? ~,
and the dyadically used operators < < = > > * will be called 6ds/c.
At the beginning of Sec. 2.3, rules were given regarding the use of
operators with vectors and matrices, but no attempt was made to
define the class of operators to which these rules apply, because only
62 An Introduction to APL

a few operators had been defined at that time. It is now appropriate

to state that the symbols m and d used there respectively stand for
any basic monadic or dyadic operator. Some illustrations are given
below.

V+\b
Q+W+VL5 7 51
4 5 3 12
0+R+V>W
Oil
n+s+-v>w
ill
RaS
Oil
/?v5
111
 Arrays (part 2)

The discussion of arrays in Ch. 2 was restricted to vectors and

matrices and to the most important special operations on these
arrays. Section 6.1 is concerned with arrays of any dimensionality,
while Sec. 6.2 treats additional special operations on arrays.

6.1 ARRAYS OF HIGHER DIMENSIONALITY

An array of the dimensionality 3 may be visualized as a deck of file

cards, in which each card carries a matrix of the same size. For
example, an array A of the size 3 2 M- corresponds to a deck of
three cards, each of which carries a matrix of 2 rows and 4 columns.
The element A[ I;J;K] is found on the Jth card at the intersection
of the JXh row and Kth column. The display of such an array is card
by card, as shown in the example below, which also indicates how
the elements of a vector V are structured into an array of dimen-
sionality 3.

Note that the command ,A yields the vector V from which A was
formed. Note also that the commands i4[3;2;4] and i4[3;l 2;4] ,

respectively, yield a single element and a vector of size 2, while the

commands A\_2 3;1 2;3] and AL2 3;1 2;2 3 4] yield a matrix

63
64 An Introduction to APL

[~K4«-3 2 4p7«-t24

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16

17 19 19 20
21 22 23 24

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 *
23
24

i4[3;2;4]
24
A[3;l 2 ;4]
20 24
4[2 3;1 2;3]

11 15
19 23
A[_2 3; ;: 5]

11 15
19 23
A{_7 3;1 2;2 3 4]

10 11 12
14 15 16

IB 19 20
22 23 24
of size 2 2 and an array of size 2 2 3. Finally, note that the two
central indices in A\_2 3;1 2;3] exhaust the range of the second
index of A and may therefore be omitted.

An array A of the dimensionality 4 may be visualized as a set of

decks of cards, each deck containing the same number of cards, and
each card carrying a matrix of the same size. The element AlI;J;K;Ll
 Arrays (part 2) 65

is found at the intersection of row K and column L on card J of

deck I . The display of such an array is deck by deck and, within
each deck, card by card. The example below shows how a vector of

size 24 or a matrix of size 3 8 are restructured into an array of

size 2 2 2 3, and how various groups of elements may be selected
from such an array.

U+A + 2 2 2 3pM«-3 8p 7«-i 24

1 2 3
4 5 6

7 8 9
10 11 12

13 14 15
16 17 18

19 20 21
22 23 24

All ;2;1;3]

All ; ; ;3]

3 6
9 12

At; ;;3]

3 6
9 12

15 18
21 24

Arrays may be indexed by arrays. For example, in the expression

ML 2 3 ; 4 2 ], the matrix M is indexed by the vectors 2 3 and
4 2 . If B , C, and D are matrices, A*-B[C\D~\ defines an array A
66 An Introduction to APL

of size (pC) pD t with the typical element A[I;J;X;L']+-BlClI;J'];

£>[#;£]]. For this definition to make sense, the elements of C and
D must be positive integers not exceeding pB[l] and p#[ 2 ], respec-
tively. If this condition is not fulfilled, an INDEX ERROR is reported.
Similarly, A+BlCil defines an array of the size (pC),p£[2] with
the typical element A [ I ;J iX]*-BtCtIi J];Kl The extension to
arrays of higher dimensionality is immediate. In the example below,
thiskind of indexing is used to substitute a "l for each in a

Boolean matrix B. Note the alternative ways of obtaining the same

result.

B<-2 3pl 110

"1 1CB+1]

1 "l 1
1 ~1 1

B-~B

1 "1 1
1 1 "1

1+ 2x5

111
1 "l "1

The rules for using basic operators with vectors and matrices that
were given at the beginning of Sec. 2.3 and further illustrated in Sec.

5.4 apply also to arrays of higher dimensionality, as is shown below.

0+-A + 2 2 3pil2

12
4 5
3
6

7 8 9
10 11 12
 Arrays (part 2) 67

\A

1 0.5 0. 33333
0.25 0.2 0. 16667

0.14286 0.125 0.11111

0.1 0.090909 0.083333
3xA

3 6 9
12 15 18

21 2 4 2 7
30 33 36
D+B+2 2 3pl3-ll2

12 11 10
9 8 7

6 5 4
3 2 1
A*B

12 22 30
36 40 42

42 4C 36
30 22 12

6.2 SPECIAL OPERATORS

In Sec. 2.3 only a few of the more important special operations on

arrays were discussed. A more comprehensive treatment is presented
below, where d and D denote dyadically used basic operators.

Reduction

When A \s a vector or a matrix, the value of the expression d/A is

the scalar 4C1] dAt2ld.. .dAlpA] or the matrix AL \l~\dAl ; 2 ]tf

. . . dAl;( qA ) [ 2 ] ]. Similarly, when A is an array of dimensionality
68 An Introduction to APL

3, the value of d/A is the matrix A [ ; ; 1 ~\d A[_ ; ; 2 ~]d .. d

i4 [ ; ; ( p j4 )[ 3 ] ] . Because the operation d/ reduces the dimension-
ality of an array by 1, it is called reduction. In the examples above,
the size of the reduced array is obtained from that of the original
array by deleting the last element. This kind of reduction will be
called reduction with respect to the last index.

APL also provides reduction with respect to other indices. For an

array A of dimensionality 4, for instance, the expression d/[2]A
indicates reduction with respect to the second index yielding

AliltildAti2nld.. m dAlilpA)l2liil. Note that of/ and d/

are used as convenient abbreviations of dLH/A and d/lppAlA.
The following examples illustrate reduction of arrays.

*/10 2 3
1EB
®/10 10 100
0. 30103
a/1 1

v/1 1

D«-i4*-2 3 4pl 1 1 1

1111
111
10 11
110 1
1110
1111
2 122
12 2 1
2 12 2
= /C2]i4

11
110
 Arrays (part 2) 69

A+2 2 4p( 14) ,( 1 + 13), l5

l/l/l/A

I/, A

r / ,a

Note that repeated reduction by the operator L may be used to

obtain the smallest element of an array, but that there is an equiva-
lent command using only a single reduction by L .

Inner Product

The scalar product and the matrix product discussed in Sec. 2.3 are
special forms of an operation that is called inner product. It involves
two arrays A and B that must be conformable in the sense that the
last element of the size of A must be the same as the first element of
the size of B . The result of the operation is an array C , whose size
is obtained by deleting the last element from the size of A and the
first element from the size of B and catenating the results. For
example, if A and B have the sizes 2 3 4 and 4 5 6, respec-
tively, then C be of the size 2 3 5 6. For conformable arrays
will

A and B of, say, the dimensionality 3, the inner product A d.D B is

defined by the statement that CU;J;K;L]= d/A[_I;J; 1DB[;K \Ll,
where d and D are any dyadically used basic operators. Note that for
fixed values of J, J, K, or L, the expressions A [J ;J ;] and
BL;K;L2 are vectors of the same size because A and B are supposed
to be conformable. The operation D is performed for each pair of
corresponding elements of these vectors, and the resulting vector is

reduced by d/.

The following examples show uses of the inner product. The function
POL evaluates the polynomial c, + c
2
x + c3 x 2 + • • +c
n+
x n the 1
;

vector C has the elements c,,c

2
. . .
fi ^
, and the degenerate case
n = is included. The function ERROR furnishes the error committed
x
when the function e is replaced by the (N + 1)th partial sum of its
70 An Introduction to APL

power series. The function DECIMAL yields the decimal form of the
number whose binary digits constitute the vector B The function .

COMB evaluates the number of combinations of N items when up to

M<N are taken at a time. The final example gives an approximate
evaluation of the maximum of the function defined by the statement
that, for any value of x, it equals the smaller one of the values 2 — x2
and 1 + x3 .

VPCL[D]V

V P+-C POL X
[1] P«-C+. xJ*~1-m p ,C
V
12 3 POL 5
86

VERRORIW]^

V E+N ERROR X\M

[1] E+-(*X)-1 + (X*M) + *IM+\N .

V
5 ERROR .

1. 0576£~6

VDECIMALIU1V

V D+-DECIMAL B
[1] £«-£+. x2*(p ,B)-ip ,5
V
DECIMAL 1
1
DECIMAL 10 11
11
VCOMBIU1V
V C+M COMB N
[1] C«-(iM) + IMpN .

V
3 COMB 5
25
(2-tf*2)r.Ll + (#«-0.1x(""H-ill))*3
1. 36
 Arrays (part 2) 71

zf zf J- J" ^
CD CM CO zf O
O CO C^ zt CO
rH CM

to r^ cd cm zf c*
o in om h idh
zj-

co co d- 4- in in <d
o o o o o o o
ID CD ID ID ID
CO IT) t^ C75 H
•••••••
HrlHH HdH
O CM (D CM tH
xH CM

CO LO (D CO Ol H 4
o in o in o id T-t
co co zf zf in in co
o o o o o o o
CD ID CD CD CD
vH CD r^ in CO rH vH tH -rH tH rH <rH

O T-i in CD
tH
=5
Q.
zf
CM CO zf LO co 00 CD
O LO o LO o LO O
* CO CO zf zf LO LO CD
O o o O o o O
LO
r-»
zr
o
zi-

zj-
zr zf zf
00 CM CD P-
^
•!• tH tH tH vH tH tH tH
+ «-• •
tH o rH zf O X CM O
CM tH *H in PC
* * • X
*i •-"* o zl- rH
X X + O
CM + in CM •
• • • O LO LO LO
o o CM tH + CO CO zf zf LO LO CD
* >1 + * tH O o o O O o o
X sm^ PC ^ W
O tH zf CD CO
72 An Introduction to APL

Outer Product

If d is a dyadically used basic operator and V and W are vectors, the

outer product P<-V° ,d W is a matrix of the size ( p V) , pW with the
typical element P£I J ]+-V[I]d WlJ]
; . Accordingly, with 7«-i9 ,

the outer product V* • x V yields a multiplication table in which each

element is the product of its row and column numbers. The first

example on the last page shows how the outer product may be used
to produce the body of a table of squares, in which the line of an
entry corresponds to the integer part (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) and the column
to the fractional part (0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) of the argument. For
example, the element in the second row and third column of the
table is the square of 1 .4.

The second example shows how the body of GROWTHTABLE in Sec.

3.2 may be obtained in a similar way. Note that the parenthesis in

the command represents a matrix M of

last the size 7 4 . To raise

all elements in a column of M to the power corresponding to the N

value for this column, we must form a matrix of the size 7 4 con-
sisting of 7 identical lines with the elements of N , and use this

matrix as the "exponent" of M . Indeed, * used as dyadic operator

between two matrices requires that these matrices have the same size.

The following examples show how the outer product lends itself to
the construction of useful matrices. For example, the matrix S in

the first example may be used in the command ( , S ) + . x 9 m, which

furnishes the sum of the elements in the principal diagonal of a matrix
M of size 3 3 .

U+S+-Vo.=V+\3

1
1
1
v° ><v

1 1
1
 Arrays (part 2) 73

Vo.>V

10
110
111
7o.+3p0

111
2 2 2
3 3 3

The function POLYPI evaluates the polynomial with the coefficient

vectorC for each element of the argument vector X. (Note that C [ 1 ]
is the constant term.)

VPOLYNlUlV

V P+C POL IN X
[1] ( Jo *~i +ip ,C)+. *C
V
12 3 POLYN 2 "1 1 3 5
9 2 6 34 86

The outer product P<-A ° . c/5 of a matrix /I with an array B of

the dimensionality 3 is an array P
of the size ( pA ) pS ,
with the
typical element PC J; J\K\L yM]*-Al IiJldBlK \L \Ml. The ex-
tension of this definition to arrays of any size is immediate.

The function TABLE furnishes a more elegant version of the table

of squares considered above. The table is presented in the form of
an array T of dimensionality 3 consisting of two cards, each of
which contains a matrix of the size 6 6 The elements in the first .

column of this matrix serve as row labels and give the integer part
of the argument. The elements in the first row are column labels
and give the fractional part of the argument. Outer products are
used in commands [3] (outer product of two vectors) and [6]
(outer product of vector and matrix, which is itself the outer product
of two vectors).
74 An Introduction to APL

O
00 ID CN 00 J" 00 CD CN 00 3" O
oocor-zfco o co co or- co
H CN CO Zf ID r** Cn

ID ID tD (D <D CD ID (D ID ID
ID CO LO CT tH h CD CO tf"> C^ <T> tH

OO (NID(\H
H CN
O H CO
CO It
h
IT)
CO (N
C- CD

CD CD CD CO CO ID (D ID ID ID
.3- o m
•«-* r^- co j-THO^t^mco
oOxhiOtHCD ocnoj-ooo
tH tH CN t LOh CO

CM
*
/—\
•-\
>< ^-^-zl-Ji-J- 3-Z1-3-J-Z1-
O O t
LO>-iO
4-
• ••••••
CN

O O O
J" 00 CN ID

tH -=t" t"«- O
••••••
CN

I*-CO
CO CN CO

t-I C^ -3-
— X >i H H CN CO IT) ID 00
+ CN >-/
iH . -f-

I O •

4 4 o
N >< tsi

•• • o 4
>i O Q. I—
•* O t<3 '*"* LO
>< /-s q. 4 to *~
> •• Co '—n • — I + O O H J" Ol (D O LD ID Ol rlJ
t— i Co — CD rl OH
.. w ..
tH CN CO tCD CO
+.
i i
ki h to ld { lo cn
Cq ^1 - 1—1 ^
k^ CQ ^ • 4 •• 4 k]

*q; Si in >—' •• •» •» dq
EH 4 4 4" «—ii ii — i ^
> EH «X) E^ E-s EH EH EH

O O HCMCO J" O LO CO t- 00 CT>

H CN CO j- LO
 Arrays (part 2) 75

Grade Up and Grade Down

The operators i ("grade up," typed by overstriking A and and I )

¥ ("grade down") are only used monadically and only on vectors.

If the elements of the vector V are distinct, the value of iV is the
permutation of the elements of i p V that produces an ascending
order of the elements of V when &V is used as index of V In .

other words, each element of VLiVl is greater than the preceding

one. Similarly, each element of VZ f 7] is smaller than the preceding
one. If an element value occurs repeatedly in V , the first occurrence
is listed first in kV and W , the second occurrence is listed next,

and so on. The following examples illustrate uses of these operators.

The function ROWORDER has as its argument a matrix M and yields

the matrix obtained from M by separately putting the elements of
each row in ascending order.

Note that (1 + T / §AO-l / %M is the difference between the greatest

and smallest elements of M augmented by 1. If this value is de- ,

noted by C the outer product in command [1] is a matrix 11 of

,

the same size as M All elements of the Ith row of N have the value
.

IxC for l<I<(pAO[l] This means that no element will change its .

row when 9 M+N io ordered and then structured into a matrix of the
size pM .

Take and Drop

The operators t ("take") and + ("drop") are only used dyadically.

If the right argument is a vector, the left argument must be an
I The expression W+I + V represents a vector W of the size
integer .

1
1 If I is positive,
. W consists of the first I elements of V or, if
I>pV of the elements of V followed by I-pV zeroes. If I is
,

negative, W consists of the last I elements of V or, if ( 1) >p V,

1

of ( 1
1 ) -p V zeroes followed by the elements of V . If J= W is ,

empty.

Similarly, jf ( 1) <p V the vector W<-I± V is obtained by dropping

1 ,

the first or last I elements from V depending on whether I is

positive or negative. The vector W is empty if (\I)>pV and ,

identical with V if 1= .
76 An Introduction to APL

o
Q-
r-i
CM
l—l

Q.

+
O

Q.

>
CM I —
I I ft; ^• cm ^
ft; Cq I I I

J" CO e> — - ft;

CO CM ft; o.
CO
I

ft; Q. C^ CM CO O
CO O =t ft;
I

J" ^ vH O Q- o
CO -^ o ft; w co ^
I

\ ^ U CM N
^
I I ft:
>
+ \ CO C-* tH
ID CM ft- ft; ^ ft:
I

*H CO zf CO CM

CO
CM |
 Arrays (part 2) 77

If the right argument

is an array A of at least the dimensionality 2,
the argument A must be a vector of size ppA that consists of
left

integers. The Jth element of I operates on the Jth index of A in

accordance with the rules given above for a vector as a right argu-
ment. For example, for a matrix M of the size 3 4 , the matrix
2 "~3+Af consists of the elements at the intersections of the first two
rows and the last three columns of M . Similarly, for an array A of
the size 4, the array that consists of only the first three ele-
3 3
ments of the first rows of cards 1 and 2 is obtained by the command
2 1 3U .

The examples below illustrate these rules. Note that the command
~l + 7 which takes only the last element of the vector 7 furnishes
, ,

a vector of size 1 rather than a scalar. Similarly, the command

"l "l +M, which takes only the element at the lower right corner of
the matrix M ,
yields a matrix of the size 1 1 rather than a scalar.

Note also that the command ~3 ~4+A/ adds a first row and a first

column of zeros to the matrix M of size 2 3 . This kind of com-

mand may be used to shorten the definition of the function TABLE
(p. 74) as follows: command [2] is replaced by the command

[2] 7<-((p,Z).~6 ~6) + (Zo.+(yo. + x))*2

and command [5] is deleted.

(2+7) ,"3+7
12 4 5 6
2+~l+7
3 4 5

6
qW
1

1234560056 ( 8 t V ) , 4+ V

0012345612 ("8+7) ,~4+7

78 An Introduction to APL

M+2 3pi6
pQ«-"l ~1+M

6
1 1
"3 ~k+M

12 3
4 5 6
1+M

2 3
5 6

An extension of the catenation concept, announced by IBM but not

yet implemented at the time of this writing, will provide a more
efficient way of adding rows or columns to a matrix. For example, if
A and B have the sizes 3 5 and 3 2 then C+A,[2']B has the
,

size 3 7 , the first five and the last two columns of C consisting of
the matrices A and B , respectively.

Decode and Encode

The operators l ("decode") and T ("encode") are only used

dyadically. If A and B are vectors of the same size, the value of
A±B is

B[pB]+/l[pB]x5["l + pi3]+ 4[~l + p5]x + i . . +yl[ 2 ]xB[ 1 ]

(Note that the value of ALU does not affect the result and may
therefore be chosen arbitrarily.) For example, 1 24 60 6 01
10 13 9 3 is the number of seconds in 10 days, 13 hours, 9
minutes, 30 seconds. Accordingly, 222H011 is the decimal
representation of the binary number with digits 1, 0, 1, 1. Note
that the same result is furnished by the command 2ll 1 1 .

Similarly, 3.112.2 "1.5 "2.6 7 is the value of the polynomial

2.2x 3 - 1.5x 2 - 2.6x + 7 for x = 3.1. The fifth partial sum of the
3
power series for e° may therefore be obtained by the command
 Arrays (part 2) 79

0. 3jl* I 5-i 5. Note, however, that it is not possible to obtain the

first five partial sums of this series by the command 0.3±tIN-\N*-\5
because l is not a basic operator.

1 24 60 60 1 10 13 9 30
911370
2 110 11
11
3.1 l 2.2 "1.5 ""2.6 7
50. 065
0.3 l *!5-i5
1. 3498

The operator t , which must have a scalar as its right argument, is

inverse to l in the following sense: if the vectors A and B are of

the same size, then (N±A ) tA±B has the value N+B It therefore .

follows from the first example given for the operator i that
24 60 60T911370 has the value 10 13 9 30 while ,

60 60T911370 has the value 9 30 which indicates that 91 1,370

,

seconds amount to an integer number of days plus 9 minutes and 30

seconds. The number of hours may be obtained by the command
60 60T911370 which furnishes the result 25 3 9 30 A few
, .

examples are given below. Note that for a vector A and a scalar S ,

the expression AtS is a vector of size pA .

24 60 60 T 911370
1 13 9 30
60 60 T 911370
9 30
60 60 T 911370
253 9 30

(5p2)T28
1110 (7p2)T28
1110 (3p2)T28
10
(0,(3p2))T28
3 10
80 An Introduction to APL

Reverse and Rotate

The operator <)> (typed by overstriking o and | ) is used both

monadically ("reverse") and dyadically ("rotate").

If V is a vector, JvM>7 is the vector that consists of the elements of

V in reverse order, i.e., £/->7[l+(p7)-tp7] .If M is a matrix,

P<r§\_l~\M is the matrix obtained from M by putting the rows in

reverse order, and 0*4>[2]Af is the matrix obtained from M by

putting the columns in reverse order. Thus, P+ML$\ (pM)Cl] ;] and
0<^[;<t>i(pM)[2]] . Note that <t>[2]M may be abbreviated as $tt .

Similarly, for an array A of dimensionality 3, the expressions ((>[1]4

or <(>[2l4 , or <t>[3l4 , are respectively obtained from A by putting
the cards, or the rows on each card, or the columns on each card, into
reverse order. Thus, 4>[2]4 has the value 4[ ;<t>\(p4)[2];] . Note
that <(>[3]i4 may be abbreviated as <t>^4 . The extension to arrays of
higher dimensionality is immediate.

0. 31t !4>0, i 4
1. 3498

A+2 2 3pil2
4>C2W

12
4 5 6
3

10 11 12
7 8 9

Note that the first example above gives another command yielding
3
the fifth partial sum of the power series for e° .

Used dyadically, the operator <(> takes a positive or negative integer

as its left argument and an array
as its right argument. If V is a
vector and J is a positive integer, J<t>7 is obtained from V by
moving (p7)|J elements from the head of V to the tail; if I is
negative, (p7) \I elements are moved from the tail of V to the
head. If M is a matrix, J<|>[l]Af is obtained from M by moving
(pM)[l]|I rows from the top of M to the bottom, or from the
bottom to the top, depending on whether I is positive or negative.
 Arrays (part 2) 81

The expression I<$>i2]M , which may be abbreviated as I$M , indi-

cates analogous operations on the columns of M The

. extension of
these conventions to arrays of higher dimensionality is immediate.

2<t>\ 5
3 4 5 12
~2<t>i5
4 5 12 3

A+3 2 2pil2
2<t>[l],4

9 10
11 12

1 2
3 4

5 6
7 8

Transpose

The operator $ ("transpose"), which is typed by overstriking o

and \ , is used both monadically and dyadically. We have already
encountered the monadic use of $ with a matrix M as an argument:
§M is the transpose of M (see Sec. 2.3). Applied to an array of higher
dimensionality, the monadic use of § effects the exchange of the
lasttwo indices. For example, if A has the dimensionality 3 and
B+$A then£[ I ;J ;K]has the value All \K\J~\, that is, each card
,

of B carries the transpose of the matrix on the corresponding card

of A .

In dyadic use, the operator takes as right argument an array, say A ,

of dimensionality D>2 , and as left argument a vector, say V , of

size D . The elements of V must be taken from \D and , if G is

the greatest element of V all elements of \G must occur

, in V .

If V consists of a permutation of the elements of \D , the array

B+VWv& obtained from A by letting the first index of A become
the 7[l]th index of B , the second index of A become the 7[2]th
82 An Introduction to APL

index of B , and so on. Thus, the transpose of a matrix M may be

obtained as 2 1$M - If A has the dimensionality 4, B+-2 1 4 3ty4
has the typical element B\_I\J\K\L'h-A[J\I\L\K~\. The same rules
apply when V does not contain all elements of \D . Thus,
B«-2 1 1§A is an array of dimensionality 2 with the typical element
B[J;e7]-M[e7;I;J] , and the command 1 1W furnishes the princi-
pal diagonal of the matrix M .

The following examples illustrate uses of the operator § .

A+2 2 3pil2

1 4
2 5
3 6

7 10
8 11
9 12

3 1 2W
1 7
2 8
3 9

4 10
5 11
6 12

1 2 1M
1 4
8 11

Compression and Expansion

We have already encountered the first of these operations in Sec. 2.4.

If B is a Boolean vector, that is, a vector consisting exclusively of
elements of value or 1, and A is an arbitrary vector of the same
 Arrays (part 2) 83

size as B , then B /A , the compression of A by B , is the vector

consisting of those elements of A that correspond to elements of
value 1 in B . Similarly, if A is an array with ( pA ) [J ] equal to
pB , then B/U3A is the array obtained from A by deleting all

elements for which the Jth index corresponds to an element of

value in B Thus, . if A*-3 3pt9,then 1 1 0/[l]i4 consists of
the first two rows of A , while 1 l/[2l4 , which may be abbre-
viated as 1 1/A , consists of the first and last columns of A .

Similarly, for an array A with pA+2 3 3 , the expressions

1 0/CH4 and 1 1/C314 respectively, consist
, of the first card
of A and the last two columns on each card of A .

Whereas compression deletes certain groups of elements (rows, col-

umns, cards, etc.) from an array, expansion inserts groups that con-
sist exclusively of elements of value 0. If B is a Boolean vector of
more than (p4)[ J] elements such that + /Z? equals (pA)U'] then ,

C+B\[_I"}A is an array such that pC is obtained from pA by re-

placing ( p4 ) [I] with pi? . Furthermore, B/[I]C equals A ,

while all elements not copied from A have the value 0. For example,
if A+3 3p\9 and B+l Oil then B\[_1]A is of size 4 , 3 , with
the second row consisting exclusively of zeros while rows 1, 3, and
4 are respectively identical with rows 1, 2, and 3 of A . Similarly,

5\[2]/l, which may be abbreviated as B\A , is obtained by insert-

ing a column of zeros between columns 1 and 2 of A .

The following examples illustrate compression and expansion.

4«-3 3pi9
1 1 0/LHA
12 3
4 5 6

1 1/A

1 3
4 6
7 9
84 An Introduction to APL

10 1 1\[1]4

1 2 3

4 5 6
7 8 9

1 1 1\A

10 2 3
6
4 5
7 8 9
 Character Manipulation

Whereas the preceding chapters were exclusively concerned with

manipulation of numbers, this chapter treats manipulation of char-
acters. Section 7.1 deals with input and output of character data.
Operations on character data are discussed in Sec. 7.2, and are further
illustrated by functions in Sec. 7.3 that concern sorting, coding, de-
coding, and translating.

7.1 CHARACTER DATA

All keyboard characters, valid overstruck combinations of these char-

acters (e.g. A. or $ but not f, or Q] ), the space, and the carriage
return may be used as character data. To distinguish them from
characters used as identifiers of variables, character data must be
enclosed in quotes in input, but the quotes do not appear in output.
A quote that forms part of the character data must be typed as a

double quote (» »).

A between quotes is treated as a scalar, but a string

single character
of charactersbetween quotes is treated as a vector, the elements of
which are the individual characters. The example below shows how
a page of text can be organized as a matrix P . The command P
yields the typed page, while the command P[ 4 ; ] yields the fourth

85
86 An Introduction to APL

line. Note the alternative ways of handling short lines, i.e., lines of

less than thirteen characters (lines 3 and 6).

P«-6 13p f !

Pllil+'THIS IS A DI- X

Pl2il+* MINUTIVE PAGE'

P[3;> ILLUSTRATING
! '

P[4 ;> THE ORGANIZA-'

!

P[5;> !
TJ<9// OF A PA-'
L+' GE.'
P[G;ipL>L

THIS IS A DI-
MINUTIVE PAGE
ILLUSTRATING
THE ORGANIZA-
TION OF A PA-
GE.

P[4;]
THE ORGANIZA-

Another way of organizing a page of text as a matrix is shown in the

next example. The first input line contains the identifier of the page,
the leftward arrow, and the opening quote. The subsequent lines

contain the text followed by a line with only the closing quote.
Short lines, such as the last line of the example, must be extended to
the standard length by the addition of spaces. Since the carriage
return at the end of each line is counted as a character, each line con-
tains fourteen characters. The carriage return after the opening quote
is an additional character, so that the response to the command
pPi4 6# would be 99. In organizing the text as a matrix of size 7 14 ,

we must drop the initial carriage return— hence the command

M+7 mpil+PAGE). The commands Ml 3 ; ] or Ml 3 ; 5 ] then
yield the third line or the first five characters of this line, the space
being counted as a character.
 Character Manipulation 87

PA GE+- '

THIS IS A DI-
MINUTIVE PAGE
TO ILLUSTRATE
THE ORGANIZA-
TION OF A PA-
GE IN FORM OF
A MATRIX.

M+-1 l^pliPAGE
ML 3;]
TO ILLUSTRATE

ML 3 ; 1 5 ]
TO IL

Note that the command M now would furnish the text typed double-
spaced because the carriage returns included in the text are added to
the normal carriage returns used in the output of a matrix.

The quote-quad H (typed by overstriking and *

) provides
another way of defining a vector of characters. In response to the
command consisting of an identifier for the vector, the leftward
arrow, and the quote-quad, the carriage moves to the left in readiness
for character input without enclosing quotes. Note that this state of
readiness (quote-quad state) cannot be terminated by entering a com-
mand such as )CLEAR , because this will be interpreted as a vector
of characters rather than a system command. To leave the quote-quad
state without providing character input, enter , backspace, U ,

backspace, T . Note also that only a single line of characters can

be directly entered in this manner, but catenation of lines may
be used for more extensive input, as shown below, where the final

Z in the second line has only been typed to show that four spaces
have been entered after the word LINES. Since this Z is the thirty-
ninth character of the input, and only thirty-eight characters are
needed for the matrix C , the Z does not appear in the output.

It is often desirable to combine the results of numerical or non-

numerical operations with segments of explanatory text. This can
88 An Introduction to APL

on
AN EXAMPLE OF CATE-

NATION OF LINES Z
C*-2 19pC
C

AN EXAMPLE OF CATE-
NATION OF LINES

CC2;]
NATION OF LINES
be done by enclosing the text segments in quotes and separating
them by semicolons from the commands for output, as shown in the
example below.

M+2 2p5-i4
'THE TRANSPOSE OF THE MATRIX' ;M;'
IS THE MATRIX' ;§M
THE TRANSPOSE OF THE MATRIX
4 3
2 1
IS THE MATRIX
4 2
3 1

Note the quote at the end of the first line, which indicates that the
character input is not yet complete. If this quote were omitted, an
error reportwould be received upon entering the first line on account
of the terminal semicolon. The symbol (typed by overstriking n
ft

and o ) at the head of a line indicates that this line contains a

ft EVALUATION OF POLYNOMIAL P
ft C=VECTOR OF COEFFICIENTS
ft BY DESCENDING POWERS OF X

C+-2 3 "4 5
X+2
U+P+XLC
25
 Character Manipulation 89

comment rather than a command. Segments of a longer computation

may be labelled in this manner to facilitate review at a later time.

7.2 OPERATIONS ON CHARACTER DATA

The only basic operators that have meaning when used with character
data are = and * For example the expression PEARS
.
' =

'PEACHES' has the value because only the 1110 first

three letters of the two words are identical.

Inner products with = or * as the second operator, or outer prod-

ucts with one of these operators, are also meaningful. For example,
if W0RD1 and W0RD2 are the identifiers of two character vectors of
equal size, the expression W0RD1*.=W0RD2 will have the value 1

only if the vectors are identical. Similarly, the expression

V*-+/W0RDlo .-W0RD2 , where the character vectors W0RD1 and
WORD 2 need not have the same length, has as its value a numerical
vectorV such that 7[J] indicates how often the Jth character of
W0RD1 occurs in WOED2 .

'CAT' *. = '
HAT'

+/• ORANGE' o. =» GRAPEFRUIT'

2 10 11
The monadically used operators » P and the dyadically used oper-
ators , p x € as well as all operators such as 4> § t that rearrange,

choose, or discard elements of an array have the usual meaning when

they are applied to a character array. Some examples are given below.
Note that expansion of a character array inserts spaces rather than
zeros. Note also that the response to 2 ~~1±M, where M is a two-
row matrix, is the empty vector.

Af+2 5p f
APPLESAUCE'
M

APPLE
SAUCE
90 An Introduction to APL

p 9 M
10

2 5
*
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ* \M

1 16 16 12 5
19 1 21 3 5

Me' A'

10
10
<M

ELPPA
ECUAS

SAUCE
APPLE

§M

AS
PA
PU
LC
EE
2 1 ±M

1 "1 \M

SAUC
10101010 1\M

APPLE
SAUCE
 Character Manipulation 91

The function WORDS on page 92, which extracts the words from
a phrase, uses some of these operations. Its right argument PHRASE
is the character vector corresponding to the phrase. Command [2]

deletes any character (such as a digit or punctuation mark) that is

not a letter or a space, appends two spaces to the shortened phrase,

and gives the identifier PHRASE to the result. Command [4] yields
the position I of the first space. If I has the value 1, then \1<I is

empty, and we proceed to commands [5] and [6] , in which the

space in position 1 is dropped, the result is given the identifier

PHRASE , and an unconditional branch to [4] is executed. If the

shortened PHRASE still has a space in position 1, this too is deleted
by another execution of commands [5] and [6] , and so on. If the
first character of PHRASE is not a space, there is a branch to com-
mand [7] , which causes the first I characters of PHRASE , the last

of which is a space, to be typed. There follows an unconditional

branch to command [3] , which drops the processed part of PHRASE
(i.e., the first I characters) and tests whether the remaining part
consists of a single character (i.e., the second appended space), in

which case the operation is terminated. If there remain at least two

characters in PHRASE , command [4] is executed next.

Note that the last two commands of WORDS could not be combined

into +3 9 0*-I+PHRASE because this would mean catenation of a

number and characters, and APL does not provide for mixed vectors
of this kind.

The output of the function WORDS is a series of typed lines, each of

which contains a word of the input phrase. Because these lines have
not been assigned identifiers, they cannot be further manipulated—
for instance, alphabetically sorted.

Note that the function WORDS will not yield the desired result if

there is a space between the last character of the input phrase and
the final quote. This possibility is taken care of in the function
WORDMATRIX shown on page 93, which organizes the words of a

phrase as a matrix and thus makes them available for further manipu-
lation.
92 An Introduction to APL

to

ft;
ft:

>i
X

Co Co
ft: R
o? ft:
ft. o
o ^

^ o
ft- <o

ft; ft-

Ok! fej
cc; Co ft:

^ ^ ft: -
E-s

- ft: ft,

^ VU ftn - O
H•• Co H cq Co Eh
^ I to s; co
ts ft: ft: s$ q- ftqto
co ft: co ft: ft: £s co
> ^ px, ^c ft: ft, ft: ^:
wC^ftn-)- CQ ^ &:
r-i

i_j
Ctq
s^
fx,
v^ { hh^;
4.ft,H4-ift:
-ft:
4- f^
Co Cqa v I^H ^ fc}
R Co CoVvhCo + C^ CqCo
ft: Ci ^ h «-
^ <h - ^ g>
o ft^oii: x »h x a; ft: ft:
^ O4'ft:J-t^ft:J-4'C0 ft: o ^
> ^hfin + tft)+D+ ft>.^: O
H
> > Sh to

r-i r-i r-i nnn r-i rn Co ft} ^ Cq

^HCNcoj-LOtoc^cc
i_j i— i i_i i_j i_j i_j l_j l_j s;^Oh^^O
ft: ft-* ft: fts
 1 \ I N i 1

Character Manipulation 93

Gq -
CO
^
ft: X
ft: H
ft, ft:
\ Eh
/""N ^:
» ^
3 Ci
tS3 ft:
>-i o
X ^
^
^ ^
^ o
Eh H
CO Eh
ft: O
Q? ^
ft, ^
o ft,

CJ ^
ft: ^ ft)
o 1-5 ft:
^m
•
^ » Eh
^>
>< H i ft,
• « ft: t-» m o
^ CJJ x-
-
3
**k ft, fcj Eh
H•• ft] CO w
•-^
CO
Gj ^c ft) ft)
fej o ft: ft) Eh co
CQ OQ ft: CO ^c
^C ^C ft. ^ ft:
ft: -> ft: ^ J5:
ft: —
w
H ft:
o>
ft,
ft. + ft,
> ft) ft: ft: co ><
—
1
>< co co co
a H ^c ^ ^C 4- ^ / ft:
i i ft: ft: ft: ft: (^ 4- ^• CO Eh
*< Eh ft: - ft: ft: Oq r-i H ^c
H ^ ft. ft, ft, O Q> /*"S ft: ^
ft: ^ v-/ •• >^x -> ^ vH Eh c>
Eh Q O W Q \ vH w o
ft:
+• -
s
^
ft:
o 4-
4'

ft)
/ "* N

ss:
.

HV +
ft)
1\^
<rH

H +
^
a. +
4<

ft]
O
^
ft:

^ ^H^o rH • ' T-\ CO \ ^ ii ** CO r-

ft: + ^ f» ^: H o •• >—• ^ m >< •«
o ^ hd^v^ X ft: x ^
• N-^
. Qq vH H c>>

^ + 4- ft: * r^ ft: j- 00 — 4- d- ft: \ ^ ft: i-« ^:

^O
I

> & ^ t ft. t t ^ ^ t ft. ^^ O Eh

H^ H
> > Eh ^ Eh
—
i
CO Eh
o H co kj ^ ft: 55:

r-i CM CO J- in CD t^ 00 cr> vH ft: co fci f*, tt: ^o

Eh O Eh ft,^ ft,
94 An Introduction to APL

The left argument N of this function indicates the length of the

rows of the output matrix, and must at least be equal to the number

of letters in word of the input phrase. Command [2]

the longest
appends to this phrase a space followed by an u followed by another
space. Command [3] sets up an empty matrix of the size 1 , N into ,

which the first word is entered by command [8] Command [9] adds .

an empty row to this matrix, into which the second word is entered
when command [8] is executed again.

The other commands of WORDMATRIX have functions similar to

those of the corresponding commands in WORDS.

7.3 SORTING, CODING, DECODING, AND TRANSLATING

Further examples of character manipulation are found in the func-

tion definitions of this section.

The function SORT has as its right argument M , a matrix of words

such as may be furnished by the function WORDMATRIX of the pre-
ceding section. The left argument N of SORT indicates the number
of initial characters of each word that will be considered in the alpha-
betic sorting process performed by SORT The first factor of the
.

inner product in the single command of SORT converts the matrix

consisting of the first N columns of M into a numerical matrix of
the same size by replacing each character with its position number
in the vector consisting of space, comma, period, and the letters of
the alphabet. The inner product regards the N elements in each row
of this matrix as the digits of a number expressed in the system with
base 30 and computes the equivalent decimal numbers, which are
then ordered by ascending magnitude. Finally, the rows of the char-
acter matrix are arranged in the corresponding order.

Note that sorting on the first three characters does not produce the
desired order, but sorting on the first seven characters does produce
it.

A slightly more compact form of SORTll'] will be possible when the

operator l applies to matrices, an extension announced by IBM but
 -e-
+

*
O
CO

Q. 63

Hi:

6^
o
CO C3

o OQ

o
H
o
63

CO 65
63

C3
Eh
Q.
o O -
Co -o- ft;
I I
O
O 3-
CO
CO co
&3
^ Co .
r- CN
Ouu^
^ «*C

^ Co • • -Co 6j
6q 6q 6a 63 fel 63
DQ ooo O O no
C3 G>
95
96 An Introduction to APL

not yet implemented at the time of this writing. The same extension
will be provided for the operator T .

There are numerous systems of transforming a "clear" message, e.g.,

an English sentence, into a cipher that, hopefully, can only be under-

stood by the person for whom it is meant. A fairly simple system
breaks the clear message into five-character groups and treats each
group as follows: each character is replaced by its position number in

the character vector consisting of the letters of the alphabet, followed

by space, comma, and period. For each group, these five numbers are

interpreted as the digits of a five-digit number expressed in a number

system with a base greater than 30. The decimal equivalent of this
number is the coded form of the five-character group, and these

VCODELQlV

V CUBASE CODE CLEAR \ALPR

[1] O-iO
[2] ALPH<-'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ,.
!

[3] CLEAR+CLEAR, (5-5 p CLEAR) p' \

f

[4] +5*((pCLEAR)>S)
[ 5 ] C+-C BASElALPH ( 5 \CLEAR )
, i

[6] CLEARS* CLEAR

[7] -4
V
VDECODELQlV

V CUBASE DECODE CIPHER ;ALPH ;I ;V

C 1 ] ALPH+ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
!
» •
t

[2] C+\0
[3] V+5pBASE
[4] 1+0
[ 5 ] ->6 x ( p CIPHER ) >I«-I + 1
[6] C+C .ALPHIVTCIPHERII'}']
C7] ->5
V
CLEAR+' RETURN IMMEDIATELY'
U+CIPHER+31 CODE CLEAR
16792222 13742716 4745 4 69 4999986

31 DECODE CIPHER
RETURN IMMEDIATELY
 Character Manipulation 97

decimal numbers are catenated (with at least one space between

consecutive numbers).

The functions CODE and DECODE respectively code a clear message

( CLEAR )or decode a coded message ( CIPHER ). The left argument
BASEoi each function is the base of the number system used. The
right arguments are CLEAR and CIPHER respectively. Command ,

[3] of CODE appends enough spaces to CLEAR to extend this to a

size that is divisible by 5. The reader should experience no difficulties
in understanding the purpose of any other command.

Automatic language translation is a field of computer science that

has attracted much attention, to some extent because it is difficult
for the layman to conceive how it can be accomplished. The func-
tion TRANSLATE is a very modest example. It yields the Ger-
man numeral for an integer right argument X specified by at most
three decimal digits. The first thirteen commands built up three char-
acter matrices A , B, and C containing the German numerals for
0, 1, . . ., 9; 10, 11, ., 19; and 20, 30
. . , 100, respectively. Com-
mand [14] sets up an empty vector that will later receive the various
parts of the desired German numeral. Command [15] breaks the
given number X into its three digits (e.g., 123 is replaced by the
vector 12 3 , and 25 is replaced by the vector 2 5 ), and gives
the identifier X to this vector.

The remaining commands take care of all special cases that may
occur. For example, commands [16] to [18] furnish the output
NULL if the sum of the three elements of X is zero, or switch to
command [19] if this condition is not fulfilled. Command [19]
switches to [24] or [20] depending on whether the first element of
X is or is not 0. Command [20] switches to [21] or [23] depending
on whether the first element of X is or is not 1 . If XL 1 1 has another
positive value, say 3, command [23] will yield the character vector
DREI HUNDERT , because this will be the beginning of the desired
German numeral. (Note that that command [38] will, at the end,
delete all The reader should not experience
spaces from the numeral.)
any difficulty in following the remaining commands of TRANSLATE.
However, he should note the comparatively large number of special
cases that must be considered even for this extremely simple trans-
lation problem.
98 An Introduction to APL

VTRANSLATElDlV
V Z+TR AN SLATE X;A;B;C
[I] A+'NULL EINS ZWEI DREI '

[2] A+-A *VIER

9 FUENF SECHS SIEBEN »

[3] A+A 'ACHT

9 NEUN !

[4] A+ 10 7 p>!
[5] B+'ZEHN ELF Z WO ELF f

[6] B*-B 'DREIZEHN

t VIERZEHN FUENFZEHN
[7] B+B.'SEOHZEHN SIEBZEHN »

[8] B+B 'ACHTZEHN

9 NEUNZEHN
[9] Z?«- 10 10 pB
[10] C+'ZWANZIG DREISSIG VIERZIG
[II] C+C>'FUENFZIG SECHZIG SIEBZIG '

[12] C+-C 'ACHTZIG

9 NEUNZIG HUNDERT
[13] C^ 9 9 pC
[14] Z^iO
[15] ^^-(3plO)T^
[16] -*(0* + /*)/19
[17] Z«-Z,4[l;]
[18] -*0
[19] -+(0=X[l])/24
[20] ->(l*ZCl])/23
[21] Z^Z,C[9;]
[22] ->24
[23] Z«-Z 4[X[l]-H;] C[9;]
t f

[24] ->(0*Z[2]+X[3])/26
[25] -+38
[26] -+(0**[2])/29
[27] Z+Z .AlXZ3l+lil
[28] +38
[29] +(l**[2])/32
[30] Z«-Z,fl[X[3] + l;]
[31] -^38
[32] +(0=X[3])/37
[33] +(l**[3])/35
[34] Al2\~\«-*EIN '

[35] Z«-Z t 4[Z[3]-rl;] t [700 f

, C[ *[ 2 ] -1 ; ]
[36] +38
 Character Manipulation 99

[37] Z+Z>ClXt2l-l;l
[38] ZHZ* % X
)/Z
V

TRANSLATE 10
ZEHN
TRANSLATE 2 00
ZWEIHUNDERT
TRANSLATE 308
DREIHUNDERTACHT
TRANSLATE 560
FUENFHUNDERTSECHZIG
TRANSLATE 99 9
NEUNHUNDERTNEUNUNDNEUNZIG
 8 Defined Functions
(part 2)

The great variety of features that APL provides for the definition of
functions is an important asset, but it is apt to confuse the beginner.
For this reason, the discussion in Ch. 3 was deliberately restricted to
a few essential features. The present chapter completes this limited
information. It contains sections on headline types, branching, the
use of labels, the checking and editing of function definitions, error
reports, and recursive functions.

8.1 HEADLINE TYPES

All functions discussed in Ch. 3 had right arguments, and some also
had left arguments. Moreover, all these functions had explicit results—
that is, the function headline started with V followed by a dummy
identifier for the output, followed by a leftward arrow. There are,
however, other types of function headlines. For example, in the
headline of the function WORDS of Sec. 7.2, there is no identifier for

the output, because the output is caused by the symbol pair ["]-<- in

command [7] , which furnishes one word every time it is executed.

A function headline may also consist of the function name alone.

For example, to make the pattern of zeros in a Boolean matrix with
the identifier BOOLEAN more readily recognizable, one may wish to

101
102 An Introduction to APL

replace each by a circle (o) and each 1 by an asterisk (*). The func-
tion PICTURE below accomplishes this; it has neither arguments nor
explicit result.

VPICTUREIQ1V

V PICTURE
[1] n+'o*'ZB00LEAN+l]
V
0+B00LEAN+5 5p0 1 1

Oil 1
10 1 1
110 1 1
Oil 1
10 1 1

PICTURE

o**o*
*o**o
**o**
o**o*
*o**o

Since a function may have no argument, only a right argument, or

both left and right arguments, and may or may not have an explicit
result, there obviously are six headline types. It does not seem nec-
essary, however, to give further examples illustrating types that have
not been encountered in the preceding sections.

8.2 BRANCHING

To avoid confusion, only a single type of switch was mentioned in

the discussion of branching in Sec. 3.2. This type is illustrated by

command [5] of GROWTHTABLE .

There are, however, many other types of switch, and three important
groups of these are discussed below, where the symbols ,a ,... and
1 2
/7
1
,a?
2
,... respectively denote assertions and command numbers.
 .

Defined Functions (part 2) 103

The switches of the first group effect branching to the command n

}

or the command immediately following the switch according to

whether the assertion a 1
is true or false. The switches used in Ch. 3
belong to this group; it is represented by

Other members of this group are

->a p/?
l 1
and /7-xpia-.

Note, however, that the last type of switch will only operate properly
with index origin 1 (see Sec. 9.1), because with index origin 0, the
expression il has the value 0, while tO is empty. The switches of
the second group effect branching to commands n y
or n
2
(neither
one of which needs to immediately follow the switch) according to
whether the assertion a 1
is true or false. The types

-> (a ,~a )ln ,n and -*n ,n^ [1+a., ]

1 1 y 2 2

belong to this group. Note the order n ,n in the second switch.

2 y

Note also that this switch requires index origin 1. For index origin 0,

it takes the form^ n 2 ,n^[a^ ]

Finally, the switches of the third group effect branching to one of

several commands. For example,

effects branching to command /?. if a. is the first assertion in the se-

quence a 1
,a
2
, . . . ,a that is true. If all assertions are false, the com-
mand immediately following the switch is executed next. Another
member of this group is

-*C*n n2 nm
y ,

where C is a counter that is set at an earlier stage of the computa-

tion. If C has the value 3, for example, the operation 3cf> applied to
104 An Introduction to APL

the vector of command numbers brings the fourth element to the

head and a branch to command /? 4 takes place. This type of switch is

useful in a computation in which corresponding branches must be

taken at various stages. After the first branching has occurred, a
separate value of the counter variable C is specified in each branch
before the branches join again for a common part of the computa-
tion. The value of the counter then assures that, at the next branch
point, the course of the computation corresponds to the branch
taken at the first branch point. Note that it may not be possible to
achieve the same effect by repeating the original switch at the second
branch point, because the values of the variables in the switch may
have been changed in the intervening computation.

A command consisting of only a rightward arrow terminates execu-

tion of the function in which it occurs as well as the execution of
any function that directly or indirectly calls for the evaluation of this
function. For example, if the function F calls for the evaluation of
the function G , which in turn calls for the evaluation of the func-
tion H , the command -* in H terminates not only the execution of
H but also that of G as well as F .

8.3 LABELS

When developing a function definition, we may wish to insert addi-

tional commands between those of an earlier version of the defini-
tion. (See Sec. 8.5 for the manner in which this is done.) Insertions
of this kind cause an automatic renumbering of commands by suc-
cessive integers from the definition mode. For example, if
upon exit
a command is inserted between the commands originally numbered

[3] and [4] the new command takes the number [4] and the old
,

command with this number becomes command [5] . If command [3]

was a switch to [4] or termination of the computation, it will now

cause branching to the new command [4] or terminate the computa-
tion, and the computation will not proceed as originally planned.
Insertion of new commands thus would necessitate updating of com-
mand numbers in switches. This trouble can, however, be avoided by
the use of labels for all commands to which branching may occur.
 Defined Functions (part 2) 105

Any variable name that is not otherwise used in a function definition

may be used as label. To
command, we insert the label fol-
label a

lowed by a colon between the number of the command and its first
character. No matter how the commands of a tentative function
definition are reshuffled to obtain the final form of this definition,

the ultimate value of a label is the final number of the command to

which the label has been attached. Accordingly, if LI is used as the
label of a command in the tentative version, a switch such as
(10>J«-I+1)/L1 will cause the desired branching to the labelled
command, no matter what its number may be in the final version.
Labels are particularly useful in the development of a function such
as TRANSLATE that involves a complex pattern of switching.

Note that a label is local to the function in which it is used, but its

value is available to another function that is invoked by the first

function.

8.4 CHECKING FUNCTION DEFINITIONS:

STOP CONTROL

As was discussed in Sec. 3.4, the trace of a command in a function

definition furnishes the value of this command every time it is exe-
cuted. Particularly for a lengthy command containing several left-
ward arrows, this value may not indicate an error with sufficient
clarity. command [2] of the function ZERO
Consider, for instance,
in To check whether this command effects the appropriate
Sec. 3.2.
branching, we may wish to know not only the value of this command,
but also the values of the variables G F and X There is no way , , .

of obtaining these by a trace.

Stop control, which operates in a similar manner as a trace, is useful

in this respect. It is initiated by a command consisting of the char-
acters SA followed by the name of the considered function, a left-

ward arrow, and the vector (stop control vector) consisting of the
numbers of the commands just before whose execution the computa-
tion is to be temporarily halted. For example, to obtain the desired
G
values of F and X in command [2] of ZERO, we give the
, , ,

command ShZERO+3 There is no typed response to this. After

.
106 An Introduction to APL

VTRANSLATE101V

V Z+TRANSLATE X;A;B;C
[I] A+'NULL EINS ZWEI DREI "

[2] A+A.'VIER FUENF SECHS SIEBEN !

[3] A+A.'ACHT NEUN ?

[4] A+ 10 7 pA
[5] B*-'ZEHN ELF ZWOELF
[6] B+B 'DREIZEHN
t VIERZEHN FUENFZEHN '

[7] B+B,'SECHZEHN SIEBZEHN »

[8] B+B,'ACHTZEHN NEUNZEHN '

[9] £«- 10 10 pS
[10] C+'ZWANZIG DREISSIG VIERZIG f

[II] C+C'FUENFZIG SECHZIG SIEBZIG '

[12] C+C,'ACHTZIG NEUNZIG HUNDERT '

[13] C^ 9 9 pC
[14] Z«-i0
[15] X+-(3plO)T*
[16] -*(0*+/*)/Ll
[17] Z«-Z t i4[l;]
[18] -*0
[19] £1:-K0=X[1])/L3
[20] +(1*Z[1])/L2
[21] Z«-Z t <7[9;]
[22] +L3
[23] L2 :Z*Z t ilCX[l 3 + 1 ;].(7C 9;]
[24] L3:+(0*X[2]+;:[3])/L4
[25] ->L9
[26] L4:+(0**[2])/L5
[27] Z«-Z,4[*[3] + l;]
[28] +L g
[29] L5:+(l*X[2])/L6
[30] Z«-Z,£[X[3] + 1;]
[31] ->£9
[32] L6:-*(0=X[3])/L8
[33] -+(1*X[3])/L7
[34] A12;1+'EIN "

[35] L7:Z«-Z,4[X[3] + 1 ;], • tftffl ' , C[X[ 2]-l ;

[36] ->L 9
 Defined Functions (part 2) 107

[37] L8:Z«-Z C[X[2]-l;]

f

[38] L9:Z«-(Z*' )/Z «

TRANSLATE
NULL
TRANSLATE 16
SECHZEHN
TRANSLATE 2 31
ZWEIHUNDERTEINUNDDREISSIG
TRANSLATE 460
VIERHUNDERTSECHZIG
TRANSLATE 70
SIEBENHUNDERT
108 An Introduction to APL

binary search for a zero of the function FUNCTN in Sec. 3.2 has been
initiated by a command such as 1E~6 ZERO ^ , the computation
is halted after the first execution of command [2] and ZER0[3] is
,

typed out to indicate the next command to be executed. We are now

free to call for the current values of the considered variables by giving
the command G F\ X. After these values have been furnished, the
%

command «-3 restarts the computation, which comes to another halt

after [2] has been executed once more. The command 6, F X now %

gives the second set of values of these variables, and the two sets may
be sufficient to indicate that command [2] operates correctly or that
it has been incorrectly formulated. The command -* will then ter-

minate the execution of ZERO and the command SkZERCh-0 will

,

remove the stop control.

Note that erasing a function on which a stop control has been set also
erases the stop control vector. Editing of a line for which a stop con-
trol has been set removes the stop control for this line. Similar state-
ments also apply to a trace.

8.5 EDITING FUNCTION DEFINITIONS

Several ways of modifying function definitions were already used in

Sees. 3.1 and 3.4; others are discussed below, where a function with

the name FNCT is considered.

Insertion of a Command
Suppose that the need for insertion of the command -*2x(ptO<T be-
tween commands [3] and [4] is discovered when the computer has
asked for command [7] . To achieve this insertion, complete the line
as shown below:

[7] [3.5>2x( p t/)<j

When the line is entered, the command is inserted with the number
[3.5] and the system asks for command [3.6] . If no further com-
 . ,

Defined Functions (part 2) 109

mand is to be inserted, we may return to command [7] by typing

[7] followed by that command.

Note that any number between 3 and 4 could have been used instead
of 3.5. If, for instance, 3.28 had been used, the system would have
asked next for command [3.29] , and this number could have been
overridden by [7] in the same way as above.

When the definition of FNCT is closed, the commands are renum-

bered by integers. Accordingly, the insertion of a command between
[3] and [4] causes the previous commands [4] [5] ... to be re- , ,

numbered [5] [6] , , . . . . This may necessitate changes of command

numbers in switches unless labels were used consistently.

If the need for the considered insertion is discovered after the defi-
nition of FNCT has been closed, the insertion is effected by the
command

VFNCTL 3 . 5]-»2x ( p V) <JV

which also leads to a renumbering of the previous commands [4]

[5]

Note that a command that should precede the original command

[1] can be inserted with a number between and 1. To add, for
example, command [8] when the definition has been closed by a del
at the end of the line containing command [7] , enter the command
VFNCT, which will make the system ask for command [8]

Deletion of a Command
To delete command [4] (i.e., command [3.5] inserted above) of
FNCT , when the system is asking, say, for command [7] of this
function, complete the line by typing [4] and depress the ATTN and
RETURN keys The system will now ask
(in this order). for command
[5] . This number can be overridden by [7] as above.

If the definition of FNCT has already been closed when the need for
110 An Introduction to APL

deleting command [4] is discovered, the command

will yield the response

[4] +2x( p y)<I

Depress the ATTN and RETURN keys, in this order, to delete com-
mand [4]

Note that, just as insertion does, deletion changes command num-

bers and may necessitate changes in switches unless labels have been
used consistently.

Displays

The editing of a function definition is greatly facilitated by the vari-

ous ways of displaying the current form of commands of this func-

tion. In discussing commands for display, we shall assume that the

current form of FNCT consists of seven commands.

As was already indicated in Sec. 3.1, the command VFNCT[0lV

causes the entire definition of FNCT to be typed out. After this has
been done, the system returns to the execution mode. If, however,
the final del in command is omitted, the system stays in
the display
definition mode and asks for command [8] after the definition of
FNCT has been typed. If a command [8] is to be added to the defi-
nition, this may now be entered. On the other hand, if command [4]

is to be changed, type [4] followed by the new form of this com-

mand.

When editing a function definition, we may be satisfied that the first

part of this definition is all right, and be interested in seeing only the
commands starting with, for instance, command [5] To accomplish .

this, enter one of the commands VF#CT[D5]V or VFNCTtDS] .The

 Defined Functions (part 2) 111

first of these returns the system to the execution mode after the

requested part of the definition of FNCT has been typed; the second
command leaves the system in definition mode and in expectation of
a change in the last command.

Finally, to display a single command, say command [4], enter

VFNCTL^DlV or VFtfOTd] In particular, . to display the headline,
enterVFNCTlOUlV or VFNCTLODl .

8.6 ERROR REPORTS

A command may be faulty because it does not specify the intended

computation or because it cannot be interpreted or executed by the
computer. For y = 3x 2 + 4, the commands Y+-3*X*2 + l
± and
Y«-3(X*2)+ *, in which X is supposed to have been specified by an
t

earlier command, illustrate these two kinds of error. Only the second

kind can be detected by the computer.

Since a command is executed from right to left, a faulty command

may be partially executed when an error of the second kind is found.
Further execution of the command is then abandoned, and the result
obtained so far is not retained except for such specif ications as may
already have been made during the partial execution of a command
with multiple specifications. A diagnosis of the error is typed out,
followed by a copy of the faulty command with a caret approxi-
mately indicating the place at which the error was noted. The exam-
ples below illustrate these remarks.

(( 15 36/5 )-/*( "l + 2xi 10 )*5)**5

SYNTAX ERROR
((1536/5)-/t(~1+2x 10)*5)*t5 1

A
(( 1536/5 )x-/*( "l+2xi 10 )*5)**5
DOMAIN ERROR
((1536/5)x-/*(-i+2x l lo)*5)**5
A
(( 15364 5 )x-/*(~H.2x x 10 )*5)**5
3.14159
112 An Introduction to APL

( 15 36/5 )xF«--/t("1 + 2x 10)*5)*t5

( 1

DOMAIN ERROR
( 1536/5 )xF<— /*(~l + 2xil0)*5)**5
(

A
F
0.996158

Note that for a command containing several errors, these are reported
one at a time. The syntax error reported first is the omission of an
operator (here x ) between two expressions. Other syntax errors are
unmatched parentheses and the use of a function without all the
arguments required by its header.

The domain error reported next consists in the use of an operation

(here compression) with operands outside the domain for which this
operation has been defined. While 0/5 or 1/5 could be interpreted by
the system, 1536/5 cannot be interpreted. A frequent cause of do-
main error reports is the attempted division by zero.

Note that in the last example, the value of the partial result F is

retained even though the complete expression cannot be evaluated

due to the domain error occurring to the left of the specification
of F .

The following examples illustrate other error reports concerning

faulty formation of an expression.

V+\H
M<-3 3pi9

+7m
CHARACTER ERROR
+
A

VLSI
INDEX ERROR
KC6]
 Defined Functions (part 2) 113

LENGTH ERROR
V+Mt 1 ; ]
A

ML 31
RANK ERROR
Ml 3]
A

Will
VALUE ERROR
WL21
A

When two characters are overstruck to form a symbol without de-

fined meaning, a character error is reported. The use of a nonexistent
element of an array results in the report of an index error. In the
third example, V is a vector of size 4 and Ml 1 ; ] is a vector of the
size 3. The attempt to add these vectors of different sizes causes a
length error* to be reported. Similarly, the attempt to form the
inner product M+.*N of matrices M and N with the respective
sizes 3 4 and 5 2 would result in the report of a length error.

The next example illustrates a rank error A The variable M has been
defined as a matrix, but the command Ml 3 ] implies that it is a

vector. The final command calls for an undefined value and hence
causes the report of a value error. The attempt to use a function that
is not in the active workspace also produces this kind of error report.

The report DEFN ERROR (definition error) was already encountered

in Sec. 3.1, where it was caused by the attempt to define a function

GROWTH when a function of this name was in the active workspace.

*The term length is here used synonymously with size. See the second footnote
on p. 17.
tThe term rank is here used synonymously with dimensionality. See first the
footnote on p. 17.
114 An Introduction to APL

The first example below again illustrates this situation. As the second

example shows, the same type of error report is made when the name
of a function that is to be defined is the same as the identifier of a
variable already in the active workspace. The third and fourth exam-
ples show that a report of definition error results from incorrect
requests for displays of functions. Note, however, that the choice of
a function name as an identifier of a variable leads to a report of
syntax error.

)FNS
FUNCTN SORT WORDMATRIX
)VARS
BEGIN END

VF+-FUNCTN X
DEFN ERROR
VF+FUNCTN X

VB+BEGIN
DEFN ERROR
VB+BEGIN

VVSORTtODlV
DEFN ERROR
V
A

VS0RTLQU1V
CO] S+N SORT M
VN SORT M CD] V
DEFN ERROR
VN SORT M CD] V

SORT+0
SYNTAX ERROR
SORT+Q
A
 1

Defined Functions (part 2) 115

While one function may invoke a second function, which may in turn
invoke a third function, and so on, excessive length of a chain of this
kind will lead to the report of a depth error.

The report WS FULL indicates that the capacity of the workspace has
been exhausted. After the status indicator has been cleared, the con-
tents of the workspace should be examined and objects no longer
needed should be erased. Similarly, the report SYMBOL TABLE FULL
indicates that too many names are being used. Some functions or
variables should be erased, and the commands

)SAVE CONTINUE

) CLEAR

)COPY CONTINUE

should be given in this order.

The report RESEND indicates that an error has occurred in the trans-
mission from terminal to computer. The last command should be
repeated. If resend requests occur frequently this fact should be re-

ported to the operator. The report SYSTEM ERROR indicates a mal-

function of the machine, which results in the loss of the contents of
the active workspace.

8.7 RECURSIVE FUNCTIONS

In the course of its evaluation, a function may invoke itself. Func-

tions of this kind are called recursive.

To give an example of a recursive function definition, consider the

difference table of a function, f = x3 , that is tabulated for x = 1,

2, . . . .In the body of Table 8.1, the first row contains these func-
"*"
tion values, which will be denoted by f*,f > •ne seconc row '
2
contains the first differences, e/], d\ , . . . , where d^n = f
n +
— fn The .

second differences d*,d\,... are obtained from the first differences

116 An Introduction to APL

in exactly the same way in which these are obtained from the func-
tion values, and so on.

The function DIFF shown below takes, as left and right arguments
M and N the order m and the position n of the difference dmn and
, ,
'

evaluates this difference in a recursive way.

TABLE 8.1
Difference Table for f = x 3

n 12 3 4 5 6 7

fn 1 8 27 64 125 216 343

< 7 19 37 61 91 127

dl 12 18 24 30 36

*n 6 6 6 6

<

VDIFFIQ1V

V D+M DIFF N
[1] ->(m=o)A
[2] ZM(M-l) DIFF(N+1))-(M-1) DIFF N
[3] ->0

[4] D<-FUNC N
V

VFUNCIQ1V

V F+FUNC X
[1] F+X*3
V

2 DIFF 5

36
 System Commands
(part 2)

The discussion of system commands in Ch. 4 was restricted to a few

commands that are essential to the organization of a user's library.
The present chapter surveys a wider array of system commands. It

contains sections on the digits, width, and origin commands, inquiry

commands, library control commands, hold commands, and on
trouble reports.

System commands are readily recognized by their first character, a

closing parenthesis. No other properly formed command can begin
with this character. System commands cannot be used in APL ex-
pressions or function definitions. Similarly, APL expressions cannot
be used in system commands, as is illustrated by the following
example.

I+-5
)DIGITS I
INCORRECT COMMAND

9.1 DIGITS, WIDTH, AND ORIGIN

We have already encountered the DIGITS and WIDTH commands

in Sees. 1.5 and 5.2. In a clear workspace, at most 10 significant

117
118 An Introduction to APL

digits of a result will be displayed, and at most 120 characters per

line. This can, however, be changed by commands such as

)DIGITS 4

) WIDTH 6 5

which respectively call for a maximum of 4 significant digits of results

and 65 characters per line. From 1 to 16 digits and 30 to 130 char-
acters may be requested by these commands. For the manner in

which the DIGITS command affects the use of the exponent nota-
tion, see Sec. 1.5.

In a clear workspace, the index origin is 1. Thus, the first element of

a vector V or the first column of a matrix M are denoted by Vl 1 ]

and ML ill. It may occasionally be convenient to use the index origin
0. For example, in a paper describing an algorithm for determining

the zeros of a polynomial, this polynomial may be written as c +

Q
c^x + c x 2 + + c n x n In defining a function for this algorithm,
• •
.
2
it would then be convenient to use the index origin and denote the
elements of the vector of coefficients by C[0], C[l3 t . . . , ClNl
rather than first transcribe the formulas of the paper for the index
origin 1. This change of index origin is accomplished by entering the
command

) ORIGIN

which will yield the response

WAS 1

This change of index origin, however, may cause trouble if the func-
tion that is being defined invokes other functions that were defined
with index origin 1. For example, with index origin 1, the command

-(0 3)tl+I*Jl

will terminate the computation if I=J but effect a branch to com-

mand [3] if I*J . When a function containing this switch is copied
 System Commands (part 2) 1 19

into a workspace with index origin 0, an index error will be reported

if I*J , while a branch to command [3] will occur if J = J* .

This kind of trouble can only be avoided if either index origin or

index origin 1 is used consistently. Since a clear workspace has index
origin 1, it seems best to use this origin in all work except, possibly,
special jobs that are independent of all other work. If, for a job of
this kind, the index origin has been changed to 0, it can be restored
to 1 by the command

) ORIGIN 1

which will yield the response

WAS

9.2 INQUIRY COMMANDS

These commands enable the user to obtain information concerning

the current content of the active workspace. The commands )FNS ,

)GRPS and )VARS that

, were discussed in Sec. 4.1 as well as the
command )SI discussed in Sec. 3.4 are members of this class of
system commands; others are described below.

Functions

In response to the system command )FNS , an alphabetically

ordered list names of all functions available in the
of the active work-
space is displayed. Note that in this ordering A, g,... follow Z.
If the function list is lengthy, and we only need to know whether
if

a function with, for example, the name TRANSFER is available, we

may give the command

)FNS T

which yields an alphabetically ordered list of function names be-

ginning with T or a later letter of the alphabet. As soon as TRANSFER
120 An Introduction to APL

has been listed, we may press the ATTN key to discontinue the
listing.

Variables, Groups, and Group

If the commands )VARS or )GRPS are followed by a letter, only

the variables or groups with names beginning with this or a later let-

ter of the alphabet will be listed.

The command ) GRP followed by the name of a group yields a list of

the members of this group.

Library

The command )LIB yields a list of saved workspaces (including

CONTINUE in the user's private
) library.

If followed by a number (from 1 to 999) that refers to a public

library, the command )LIB yields a list of workspaces in this library.
A public library may have been distributed with the system or
organized locally. Public Library 1, which is distributed with the
system, contains many useful functions. The list of its workspaces is

shown below together with the function list of the workspace

PLOTFORMAT .

)LIB 1
C0MPPR0B
AD VAN CEDE X
APLCOURSE
CLASS
NEWS
PLOTFORMAT
TYPEDRILL
WSFNS

)C0PY 1 PLOTFORMAT
SAVED 9.26.53 07/01/70
)FNS
AND DESCRIBE DFT EFT PLOT
 System Commands (part 2) 121

A description of the function PLOT will be given in response to the

command

HOWPLOT

PLOT yields a rough graph of a function of one independent variable.

The left argument of PLOT is a two-element vector that controls the
size of the graph; the right argument is a two-column matrix, each
row of which contains a value of the independent variable followed
by the corresponding value of the function. In the example on the
next page, the function plotted is the cubic polynomial x 3 — 16x 2 +
76x — 96. The right argument for this application of PLOT is fur-
nished by the function POLYNOMIAL, which takes as its left argu-

ment the vector 1 "16 76 "96 of coefficients and as its right

argument the vector of the chosen values of the independent variable.

Note that the function values for x = 3 and x = 4 are 15 and 16, but
the ordinates of the plotted points for these abscissas are equal be-
cause each line of the typed graph corresponds to an ordinate interval
of length 2.

Workspace Identification

The command )WSID yields the name of the active workspace.

Status Indicator

The execution of a function may be suspended because theATTN

key has been pressed, an error has been detected, or the APL oper-
ator has sent a PA (Public /Address) message, or because a stop con-
trol was set for a command, say command [5] , of the function.
When a suspension occurs, the name of the suspended function is
typed out followed by the number of the "next" command to be
executed. In the first three cases above, this will be the command
during whose execution the suspension occurred. In the stipulated
case, this would be [5] . However, a suspension that is due to a stop

control occurs after a command has been completely executed, and

in this case the number of the next command is typed out.
 122 An Introduction to APL

V P-C POLYNOMIAL X
[i] p«-(2, P ;r)po
[2] Ptlll+X
[3] P[2;>Uo.*(pC)-ipC) + .x<7
V
C+l "16 76 "96
C POLYNOMIAL i9

1 3 4 9
35 15 16 21

40 40 PLOT (§C POLYNOMIAL i9)

30

20

o o

10

10

20

30

40 | | I I I

2 10
 ,

System Commands (part 2) 123

The system commands )SI and )SIV yield the name of each active
function, followed by the appropriate command number, followed
by an asterisk if the function is suspended, and, in the case of )SIV
by a list of the identifiers of all local variables of the function. A
function in this list that has no asterisk is called pendant. Note that
the most recently active function is listed first, and so on.

The values of all local variables of the function at the top of the list

furnished by )SI or )SIV may be requested by the appropriate

commands. The value of a local variable of a function farther down
in the list is accessible only if the identifier of this variable is distinct
from the identifiers of all local variables listed in preceding lines of
the list.

Note that a suspended function may be edited, but a pendant func-

tion cannot be edited. The following example will illustrate these

rules. The function PRIMES with positive integer N as right argu-

ment furnishes a list of all prime numbers that do not exceed N .

The function TWINS with positive integer right argument // fur-

nishes the smaller member of each pair of primes up to N+2 whose

difference does not exceed 2. (Note the commands PRIMES 30
and TWINS 3 .) After a stop control has been set for command
[5] of PRIMES, the execution of TWINS 30 is stopped just before
command PRIMES is executed for the first time, and this is
[5] of
signalled by the report PRIMESL5] The response to the system .

command )SIV shows that PRIMES is suspended and TWINS is

pendant. The current values of all local variables of PRIMES and the
current value of the local variable T of TWINS could be requested
by the commands PR N,P Q and T but the values of the local
t t ,

variables N and P of TWINS are not accessible, because the com-

mand N ,P would yield the values of the local variables N and P of
PRIMES.
VTWINSIU1V
V T+-TWINS N;P
[1] N+N+2
[2] P+PRIMES N
C3] :r<-(((:up)-(~:up)) <;2 )/""!+?
124 An Introduction to APL

VPRIMESL01V

V PR+PRIMES N;P; e
[1] PR<-li\N
[2] Q+N**P+2
[3] +{Q<P)/Q
[<+] ?/?«-( ( 0*P PR ) vp = p/? ) /Pi?
|

[5] P«-PP[l+P/?iP]
[6] -*3
V

PRIMES 3
2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 2
rf/ItfS 3
2 3 5 11 17 29

SAPRIMES+5
TWINS 3

PRIME SL 5]
)SIT
PRIMESlS] * PR N P «
TWINSL21 T N P

Ports

The command ) PORTS yields a list of the numbers and user codes
of all connected ports (terminals).

The command )P0RT followed by a user code yields only the port
(or ports) for this user code.

System Information

There are some inquiries concerning the system to which the answers
are obtained not by system commands but by special functions. The
name of each of these functions consists of the symbol I (over-

struck i and t ) followed by a two-digit number. The more im-

portant of these functions are described below.

The value of 119 is the total time (in 60ths of a second) during
which the keyboard has been unlocked (i.e., ready to receive entries)
 System Commands (part 2) 125

during the current work session. When the R ETU RN key is depressed,
the keyboard is locked and cannot receive new entries until the
present command has been executed (and results have been typed
out if thecommand called for this).
The value of 12 2 is the as yet unused space (in bytes) in the active
workspace. (A byte is equivalent to eight binary digits.) By giving the
command 122 after the active workspace has been cleared, the size

of this space may be obtained.

The values of 120 and 124 are the time of the day (since midnight)
and the time of the sign-on for the current work session (in 60ths of
a second).

The value of 12 5 is a six-digit number, the two-digit groups of

which give month, day, and year of the current date. The conven-
tional form of this date may be obtained by the function DATE
below.

VDATELDlV
V DATE;D
[1] £>«-(3pl00)Tl25
[2] £[l]; ,
/
,
;£[2];»/ ;£[3]
,

DATE
10/23/70

9.3 LIBRARY CONTROL COMMANDS

These commands are concerned with reactivating or deleting a stored

workspace, and storing the active workspace or deleting some of its

contents.

Reactivation of Stored Workspace

The system command consisting of the characters )LOAD followed

by a space and the name of a stored workspace or the number of a
public library, another space, and the name of a workspace in this
126 An Introduction to APL

library, replaces the content of the active workspace by that of the

named workspace, including digits, width, origin, trace, and stop
controls that were in force when this workspace was stored. In re-

sponse to the command, a message is typed out that starts with the
word SAVED and gives the time and date of the last storing of the
workspace.

Note that the LOAD command is destructive in the sense that the
current content of the active workspace is lost. The system command
consisting of the characters )COPY followed by a space and the
name of a stored workspace or the number of a public library, a

space, and the name of a workspace in this library, adds all groups,
functions, and global variables of the named workspace to the cur-
rent contents of the active workspace while retaining the digits,
width, origin, trace, and stop controls of the latter. The response to
the COPY command is the same as that to the LOAD command.
If the COPY command just described is extended by a space and the
name of one object (group, function, or global variable) in the stored
workspace, only this object added to the current content of the
is

active workspace. Note that only one object of the stored workspace
can be copied at a time in this manner.

If an object in the active workspace has the same name as an object

in the stored workspace, the latter will rep/ace the former when the
COPY command is executed. If this effect is not desired, a command
beginning with the characters )PCOPY (where the P stands for
"protected") should be used instead of the command beginning with
)COPY . The PCOPY command is particularly useful if a function in

the stored workspace is to be replaced by an improved version with

the same name that has been developed in the active workspace. To
this end, the stored workspace isP-copied into the active workspace,
which is then given the name of the stored workspace and saved.

Note that when a group is P-copied, only those members will be

copied whose names do not duplicate names of objects already in the
active workspace. If a group in the active workspace has the same
name as the group that is to be P-copied, the members of the latter
group will be copied as far as their names are distinct from the names
 System Commands (part 2) 127

of the objects in the active workspace, but they will no longer be

recognized as members of a group.

A group in the active workspace may be dispersed by the system

command consisting of the characters ) GROUP followed by a space
and the name of the group. The members of the dispersed group re-

main in the active workspace but are no longer recognized as forming

a group. On the other hand, if a group formed of functions, variables,
and other groups is erased by the command consisting of the char-
acters ) ERASE followed by a space and the name of the first group,
the functions and variables of this group will be deleted, but the
other groups will only be dispersed.

Note that a function that is being edited and a pendant function can-
not be erased. The name of a stored workspace and its contents may
be dropped from the library by the system command consisting of
the characters )DROP followed by a space and the name of the
stored workspace. The response to the drop command is a line with
the time and date.

Provided the active workspace has a name (identification), the sys-

tem command ) SA VE will store it under this name unless the user's
quota of workspaces is exhausted. The response to the command
) SA VE is a line beginning with SA VED and giving the time and date.

Note that the active workspace initially has either no name or the
name CONTINUE depending on whether the previous
, work session
was terminated by )OFF or by ) CONTINUE In the first . case, the

command )SAVE will yield the response NOT SAVED, THIS WS

IS CLEAR. To save this workspace under the name LIBR the ,

command )SAVE LIBR should be given. Alternatively, the work-

space may first be given the name LIBR by the command )WSID
LIBR and then be saved by )SAVE .

9.4 HOLD COMMANDS

A may have more than one account and may wish to work
user
successively on several of them. To avoid redialing a telephone
128 An Introduction to APL

connection to the central computer after finishing the work on one

account, he may sign off by using the commands )OFF HOLD or
)CONTINUE HOLD followed by a colon and a password if this is de-
sired. The telephone connection will then be maintained for sixty

seconds after the time and cost information for the account has been
typed out, and during this time the user may sign on again by enter-
ing a closing parenthesis and the next account number (and a colon
and password if the account is locked).

9.5 TROUBLE REPORTS

When a system command is not executed, a trouble report is typed

out. Some of these have already been mentioned— for example,
NUMBER IN USE (Sec. 1.2). This particular trouble report indicates
that somebody is already signed on under the given account number.
Other examples of trouble reports are NUMBER NOT IN SYSTEM or
WS NOT FOUND , indicating that an account with the given number
(and lock) does not exist or that there is no workspace with the given
name. As these examples show, trouble reports are sufficiently spe-
cific to make their detailed discussion unnecessary.
 References

APL Programming and Computer Techniques, by H. Katzan, Jr., New York:

D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1970.

APL\360 User's Manual, 2nd ed., White Plains, N. Y.: IBM Technical Publications
Department, 1970.

APL\360 Primer, 2nd ed., White Plains, N. Y.: IBM Technical Publications
Department, 1970.

APL\360 Reference Manual, by Sandra Pakin, Chicago: Science Research As-

sociates, Inc., 1968.

A Programming Language, by K. E. Iverson, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,

1962.

129
 3

Index

Account number, 3 Code, user's, 3, 5

Active workspace, 49 COMB, function, 70
AREA, function, 43 Comments, 88
Arguments, 31 Compression, 82
Array, 13, 16,63 Conformability, 69
arithmetic operations on, 23, 66 CONTINUE command, 5
ATTN (Attention) key, 5 CONTINUE HOLD command, 128
Continue workspace, 49
Basic operators, 61 Convergence, function, 43
Binary search, 38 COPY command, 52, 126
Binomial coefficient, 55 Counter, 103
Boolean:
expression, 26 DATE, function, 125
vector, 27 DECIMAL, function, 70
Branching, 33, 35, 102 Decode, 78
Byte, 125 DECODE, function, 96
Defined functions, 30, 101
Catenation: Definition:
of lines, 87 error, 32, 1 1

operator, 23 mode, 31
Character: Deletion of command, 109
data, 85, 89 DEPTH ERROR, 115
manipulation, 85 DIFF function, 116
CHARACTER ERROR, 113 Difference table, 115
Checking function definition, 43, 105 DIGITS command, 6, 49, 117
CLEAR command, 52 Dimension (see Size)
CODE, function, 96 Dimensionality of array, 17, 63

131
132 Index

Discriminant, 36 Hyperbolic functions, 56

Dispersion of group, 127
Displays, 110 Identifier, 9, 40
DOMAIN ERROR, 112 INDEX ERROR, 20,66, 113
Drop, 75 Index generator, 19, 20
DROP command, 127 Indexing, 17, 63

Dummies, 40 Inner product, 69

Dyadic operators, 5, 11, 24, 55 Inquiry commands, 119

Insertion of command, 108
Editing of function definition, 32, 108 INT (Interrupt) key, 5
Encode, 78 Interest, compound, 31
ERASE command, 32, 49 Intermediate results, catenation of, 23
ERROR, function, 70 Inverse hyperbolic functions, 56
Error reports, 1 1
Inverse trigonometric functions, 29, 56
Execution mode, 31
Expansion, 82 Keyboard, 2
Explanatory text, 87 Key:
Experimental function, 9, 15 ATTN (Attention), 5
Exponent notation, 7 INT (Interrupt), 5
Expression: RETURN, 3
Boolean, 27 Shift, 1

composite, 8, 10
multiple evaluation of, 13 Label, 104
Language translation, automatic, 97
Factorial, 10 Length {see Size)
FNS command, 50, 119 LENGTH ERROR, 113
Function: LIB command, 120
pendant, 123 Library:
suspended, 46, 121 adding to a, 52
Function definition, editing of, 32, 108 starting a, 49
Fuzz, 27 Library control commands, 125
LOAD command, 125
Gamma function, 10
Local variables, 41, 123
Global variables, 41 Logarithm, 10, 55
Grade down, 75
Grade up, 75 Matrix, 17
GROUP command, 50 Matrix product, 26, 69
GROWTH, function, 31,32, 113 Membership in array, 27
GROWTHTABLE, function, 34,41, Monadic operators, 9, 1 1, 23
72, 102
GRP command, 120 OFF command, 4
GRPS command, 51, 119, 120
OFF HOLD command, 128
Operations on character data, 89

Headline, 31 Operator:
types, 101 catenation, 23
 Index 133

Operator (continued): Scalar, 17

structuring, 17 product, 25, 69

Operators: SI command, 46, 49, 119, 121, 123
basic, 61 Sign-off instructions, 4
dyadic, 5, 11, 24, 55 Sign-on instructions, 3
monadic, 9, 11, 23 Signum function, 9
special, 24, 67 SIV command, 123
ORIGIN command, 118 Size of array, 17, 18, 63
Outer product, 72 SMALL, function, 58
SORT, function, 95
Parentheses, use of, 9 Status indicator, 46, 123

Password, 4 Stop control, 105

PCOPY command, 126 Suspended:
Pendant function, 123 execution, 46

PICTURE, function, 102 function, 46, 121

PLOT, function, 122 Switch, 35

POL, function, 70 SYMBOL TABLE FULL, 115

POLYN, function, 73 SYNTAX ERROR, 45, 112, 114
POLYNOMIAL, function, 122 System:
Port, 3, 124 commands, 49
PORT command, 124 information, 124

PORTS command, 124 SYSTEM ERROR, 115

Public address, 121
PRIMES, function, 124 TABLE, function, 74, 77
Take, 75
QUADRATIC, function, 36 Terminal, 2
Quotes, use of, 85 Trace, 44, 105
Quote-quad, 87 TRANSLATE, function, 98, 100,
106, 107
Random elements, 59 Translation, automatic language, 97
Rank (see Dimensionality) Transpose, 26, 81
RANK ERROR, 113 Trigonometric functions, 29, 56
Ravel, 18 Trouble reports, 128
Reciprocal, 9 TWINS, function, 124
Reduction, 68
RESEND, 115 Value, absolute, 10
Residue, 55 VALUE ERROR, 39, 40, 46, 113
RETURN key, 5 Variable:
Reverse, 80 global, 41
Rotate, 80 local, 41, 123
ROWORDER, function, 75 VARS command, 50, 119
Vector, 17
SAVE command, 52 empty, 19
134 Index

WIDTH command, 59, 118 ws FULL, 115

WORDMATRIX, function, 93 WSID command, 50, 121

WORDS, function, 92
Workspace, 49 ZERO, function, 38
^
 The Ally n and Bacon Series

MU?
LANGUAGES
OF THE 70s
Consulting Editor
Peter Wegner
Brown University

C. Joseph Sass
BASIC Programming For Business

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