Greetings,
Now that the wonderful SQL interface is working for me, I believe I can create a component and keyed file system in straight APL easily. I just need to understand ⎕TF a bit better.
1. 3 ⎕TF seems to produce a string vector representation of an arbitrary nested array without retaining the specific name of the variable. Is this true? (If so, this is exactly what I need!)
2. How can I reverse the process? i.e. if X holds the result of a 3 ⎕TF, I need a way of converting it back to an APL (possibly nested) array that is exactly the same array. i.e.:
x←(5 5⍴⍳25) 'Hello there'
y←3⎕TF'x'
z←??????????
I need to know what ?????? is so that x and z have the exactly equivalent arrays.
3. I am a little concerned that the vector produced by 3 ⎕TF may have trouble going to and from an SQL VARCHAR using the existing (and fantastic!) library. I am not sure, but there may be a problem with C null characters ('\0') or other non-printable characters. Some feedback on this would be very helpful.
I suppose I can achieve the same effect by using 2⎕TF and then dropping the assignment part before executing the string. This should be highly portable but I'd guess less efficient. Thoughts?
Thanks a lot!!
Blake