Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!ljdickey
From: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu (L. J. Dickey)
Subject: Re: Conversion of APLs query
Message-ID: <1991Dec20.145042.5231@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <1991Dec17.154349.40121@qut.edu.au> <1991Dec18.031730.21890@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 14:50:42 GMT
Lines: 30

In article <1991Dec18.031730.21890@watmath.waterloo.edu> I wrote:

>There are several conventions for moving APL objects from one APL
>to another.  The key, in almost all cases is some sort of intermediate
>representation that can be understood by both systems.  The most
>widely used systems are based on WSIS0, (Workspace Interchange Standard
>0) or some minor variation of these.  There are also ASCII keyword
>schemes about.  WSIS0 appeared first in print in 1977, and current
>QuadTF (Transfer Form) and ")OUT" and ")IN" are based on this.

In response to the last sentence, Mike Kent (70530.1226@CompuServe.COM)
wrote the following to me.  

	By the way, IBM's ")OUT"/")IN" protocol bears very little resemblance
	to any WSIS format.  Transfer form files are record-oriented, rather
	than streams; fns/ops are represented by a little prefix material (NOT
	including any length indication) followed by an executable statment of
	the form []FX 'header' 'first line' ... 'last line'; variables by some
	prefix material and an executable statement    shape RHO content   .
	These representations do match the result of []TF but it's hard for me
	to see any relation to the WSIS conventions ...

Thanks, Mike, for the clarification.  Instead of saying
"are based on" I should have said "are evolved from".

-- 
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
