Hello
Harteg,
please see my answers inline below...
/// Jürgen
On 03/29/2014 09:08 PM, Harteg Wariyar wrote:
Hi. I just
downloaded gnu apl1.3, running it on os-x
mavericks. Took
a little bit of thinking and tinkering to get it
up, but I have been waiting
to be able to run apl on the mac, so quite happy
about that!
I am not familiar with Apple products, but maybe
Peter's nice document
doc/APL-on-Macintosh.pdf could have helped?
[Harteg: Yes, it definitely helped. Still, quite a
bit of steps and few areas where
I stumbled a bit.]
One question - I was
looking to interface with my file system - I see
that
" )host " is implemented, but is there a []host
- like command as well?
I tried []sh, []cmd, []host, but none of them
seem to work.
e.g. If I want to get "ls" of my system into a
matrix, and begin parsing it,
is there a way?
I believe the above ⎕ functions are from some other
APL interpreter.
GNU APL has only implemented the ⎕ functions defined
in IBM APL2 and
in the ISO standard.
In IBM APL2 you would do things like the above via
AP100 (see src/testcases/AP100.tc
for an example.
[Harteg: ok, I took a look, but not sure if it can
do what I am looking for
e.g.
OS←'ls'
apl-1.3
files
test1.apl
but...
mat1←OS←'ls'
apl-1.3
files
test1.apl
mat1
ls
Is there a way to have the ls (or shell command)
output get saved in a variable?
]
In GNU APL you also have the FILE_IO native
function, see src/testcases/FILE_IO.tc
for an example.
[Harteg: Even this seems to be giving me a
problem.
'lib_file_io.so' ⎕FX 'FILE_IO'
0
FILE_IO
VALUE ERROR
FILE_IO
Not sure what I am doing wrong...
]
[]
I
am really happy to see a way to create apl
code in vi (a little problem with the
layout
in that the Esc key is mapped to something - I
will need to look into that)
and
load it via apl -f aplfile.apl. But is there
a way to load this when I am already in
apl via a [] system function ?
Also,
it looks like there is currently no support
for native files []nread, []ntie
functionality?
Same as above. Currently you can )DUMP a workspace
in a format that can be read back
with apl -f. I could think about extending )COPY so
it understands .apl files from )DUMP.
I have added that to my TODO list.
Otherwise, FILE_IO is the way to go.
[Harteg: that would be fine. If you could implement
[]CY system function to copy or load this kind of
file, that would be really nice, as it would enable
loading of apl code libraries created
in an external editor within apl functions I
create. Kind of like #include or #import in other
languages ]
[]
as
for bugs, I have one at the moment:
When
I launch mac terminal with apl font, my font
is black. Once I quit apl, with )off, my
font
is
now gray. And when I restart apl, it is still
light gray unlike the first time I ran apl.
Not sure why.
Upon
starting a new terminal session, it's fine
again.
Sounds like wrong ESC sequences for colors. Check
your preferences file.
[]
I
do have suggestions for things I am looking
for in apl that aren't typically there - if
interested,
please
let me know and I can organize my thoughts on
this.
e.g.
localize variables by default (no side
effects), multi-function scripts,
pass-by-value C-style structures.
I am rather sceptical of non-standard "improvements"
of APL. I have seen many such extensions
in other interpreters and languages. Very few of
these extensions have really convinced me,
though. I also believe that too many different
extensions in different APL interpreters split an
already small community of APL users into even
smaller fractions. I understand that in the past
this
was (thought to be) needed by commercial vendors to
distinguish their APL interpreter from those of
their competitors. But the overall effect of that
may have harmed APL more than it has helped.
So, don't expect too much from GNU APL in that
direction.
[Harteg: Certainly,
it would be best to understand your vision for GNU
APL, and we can see from there]
Anyway,
you are doing wonderful work!
Thanks
again and looking forward to your response,
- Harteg