Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!ljdickey
From: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu (L. J. Dickey)
Subject: Workspace Interchange
Message-ID: <1991Nov19.225303.1262@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1991 22:53:03 GMT
Lines: 111

			Workspace Interchange

A workspace called PP, for the interchange of workspaces, is available
on "watserv1" at Waterloo.  It is intended for easy porting of
workspaces over widely differing systems.  The major difference between
this scheme and those that precede it, is that the transport mechanism
is a text file, readable by human beings.  Workspaces are presented for
four different APL implementations, and one text script is provided
which shows the workspace itself, as an example of the type of script
it produces.

						Lee Dickey
						Archivist

 ==============================================================================

			        APL, J,
			and other APL Software
			     at Waterloo

Several versions of APL and J are now available on the file server

	watserv1.uwaterloo.ca         [ 129.97.129.140 ]
	watserv1.waterloo.edu         [ 129.97.129.140 ]

at the University of Waterloo.   In the directory "languages/apl",
anonymous ftp users will find a lot of good stuff.  Version 3.2
of J has been there for some while now, and version 3.4 will soon
be available.

An index showing all APL files is available as "languages/apl/index".

Several flavors of APL, Sharp APL, I-APL, and RATAPL, are available.

Several different APL fonts may be obtained:

	(1) APL2745, a postscript line font
	(2) an X-Windows font 
	(3) Two different TeX font.

Some APL Workspaces have been added recently, one for complex numbers,
one with an accounting package, and one on workspace interchange.
This latter method has the feature that its exchange method is
a human readable text file.

Currently, this service is being provided on an experimental basis, and
there are no promises that it will continue on a long term basis, nor
is there any warantee of serviceability or completeness of the software
distributed from watserv1.

It is hoped that eventually there will be a mail server for the same
range of software to those who have e-mail access but no ftp access,
but a userid for this mail service has not been announced yet.  In
the meantime, users who do not have ftp but who do have e-mail may 
find the service  "BITFTP at PUCC"  helpfull.  For example
this mail message (with no leading blanks)

	To: bitftp@pucc.bitnet

	FTP watserv1.waterloo.edu UUENCODE
	USER anonymous 
	CD languages/apl
	BINARY
	GET index
	QUIT

was successful in acquiring the index.  Similar messages could result
in receiving the various pieces of software.

Once you have the index, you may see the name of some other file you
want.  For such a file, determine the directory path (``dp'') and
the file name (``fn'').  One example you will have already done:
the file "languages/apl/index" splits up as:

		dp		languages/apl		
		fn		index			

As another example, if you want the file "languages/apl/j/pc/j_pc_30.arc", 
you would use the directory path and the file name:

		dp	languages/apl/j/pc
		fn	j_pc_30.arc

Prepare a little file to be a mail message to pucc:
(As before, no lines of the file have no leading blanks.)

		To: bitftp@pucc.bitnet

		FTP watserv1.waterloo.edu UUENCODE
		USER anonymous 
		CD dp
		BINARY
		GET fn
		QUIT

Of course, in the above, you replace "dp" by the appropriate directory
path, and you replace "fn" by the file name.  Use your local e-mail to
send the file off.  If all goes as intended, when PUCC gets your mail
message, it does the "ftp" session for you, using the commands you have
supplied.  It wraps the file up in a "uuencode" package, and mails it
to you.  When you get the file, you may have to combine several files
together, remove superflous blank and mail header lines, and uudecode
the file.

1991-11-19

-- 
Leroy J. (Lee) Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, U of Waterloo, Canada  N2L 3G1
Internet:      ljdickey@watmath.UWaterloo.ca
UUCP:          ljdickey@watmath.UUCP             ...!uunet!watmath!ljdickey
Obsolescent?:  ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu     BITNET/EARN: ljdickey@watdcs
