Newsgroups:   comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv1!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!jtsv16!itcyyz!yrloc!intern
From:         gsd@ipsaint.ipsa.reuter.COM (Dennis, Gary S.)
Subject:      STSC APL*PLUS II Version 4
Message-ID: <1992Feb17.152911.20756@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM>
Sender: intern@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Intern via QUADRAM)
Reply-To:     gsd@ipsaint.ipsa.reuter.COM (Dennis, Gary S.)
Organization: Reuters Information Services (Canada)
Date:         17 Feb 92 15:00:07 UT


-----------Message forwarded from IPSA Mailbox-------------


no. 5976470 filed 14.38.14  mon 17 feb 1992
from gsd
to   uclapl
subj STSC APL*PLUS II Version 4

Re Charles Schulz et al on the subject of STSC's new Windows version, here
is some info culled from the Windows interest group on our internal mail
system.
/Gary Dennis
APL Software Division
Reuters Information Services



no. 5943102 filed 18.55.08  wed  5 feb 1992
from gsd
to   helgason
cc   windows
subj apl*plus II/386 version 4
ref  5942537

I spoke with a product management type at STSC (Katie Slingluff, at
215-668-9233) when I got my flashy announcement, since the flashy announcement
said nothing about there being a run-time environment for distribution to
end users. She expected the product to ship mid-February, so you're not
likely to hear any testimonials about the product's glories or failings just
yet.

There is a run-time environment available, $5000 for an unlimited-dist license
or $875 for a 5-users-only license.

The product is $1700 a pop for the development package, $1295 if you're
upgrading from an earlier version of apl*plus. Definitely not a mass-market
item, though if it comes close to living up to their advertising hype it
does sound like an awfully nice tool.
/Gary



no. 5945069 filed 13.07.56  thu  6 feb 1992
from mkrom@ipsa
to   helgason
cc   windows
subj apl*plus II/386 version 4
ref  5102734@ipsa 5944695@ipsaint

@transferred from ipsa  no. 5102889 filed 13.07.56  thu  6 feb 1992

I have not done any extensive testing, but the basic claims seem to be true. I 
installed the Windows SDK today in order to play with it some more (in this 
first release, you have to use the SDK to create/edit resources, which you can 
then access from APL). It does give you access to do just about anything which 
you can do from C. You can sit in immediate excution and type 

      W_moveto (handle) (new position)

... and have your windows move around the screen. Just make sure that (handle) 
actually corresponds to a real live window, or some other segment of memory may 
get jumped to instead (if only OS/2 would do away with Windows, the world would 
be a better place for us all).

Dyalog APL/W should be out very soon as well (seems to be a few weeks behind 
STSC at the moment). From what I hear, they will be providing a more seamless 
APL-like interface via a few new -functions, which will be portable across all 
the Dyalog platforms. I haven't seem this product yet, but expect that it will 
be a lot easier to use. On the other hand, you may be cut off from some 
facilities.

So the race between STSC and DYADIC is still close. Take a look at both 
products before making up your mind. IBM still seems to be about a decade 
behind (but their new APL2 mainframe announcement is very encouraging).

As the CASE hysteria dies down, I think we may well see a reneissance for APL. 
There haven't been any other really productive tools for GUI programming until 
now, anyway. APL is not as far behind as some would say.

Cheers / Morten


-----------------------------------------------------------
This posting is forwarded from an internal Reuters mailbox.
No statement or opinion contained herein should be taken as
being Reuters policy, or even as being approved by Reuters,
in any way.
