Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv1!torn!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uunet.ca!geac!itcyyz!yrloc!rbe
From: rbe@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Robert Bernecky)
Subject: Re: SIGNUM of teaching numerical methods
Message-ID: <1992Jul25.195709.21482@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM>
Reply-To: rbe@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Robert Bernecky)
Organization: Snake Island Research Inc, Toronto
References: <ROCKWELL.92Jul20011749@socrates.umd.edu> <1093@kepler1.rentec.com> <ROCKWELL.92Jul21093324@socrates.umd.edu> <1104@kepler1.rentec.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 92 19:57:09 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <1104@kepler1.rentec.com> andrew@rentec.com (Andrew Mullhaupt) writes:
>In article <ROCKWELL.92Jul21093324@socrates.umd.edu> rockwell@socrates.umd.edu (Raul Deluth Miller-Rockwell) writes:
>>Andrew Mullhaupt:
>
>>Having never seen 'a', and having no way to access it, I really can't
>>agree or disagree on this one.  Keeping a language secret does have a
>>certain advantage -- no one else is going to use it.  But, it does
>>have a disadvantage -- no one else is going to use it.  You makes your
>>choices...
>
>'a' is not a secret, otherwise I couldn't have told you about it. There are
>papers in the APL literature by Whitney and some others explaining it. You
>just can't have it. You _are_ allowed to know about it...

Umm, please supply at least ONE specific reference to "a" which exists
in the literature. I have NEVER seen any such reference, and have never
seen a reference manual or other book which would tell me anything 
concrete about "a". In particular, the APL Conference Proceedings
from 1986-1992 contain not a single article by Whitney.

Furthermore, I have not seen anything more formal presented by Arthur
Whitney at conferences than a few foils, and claims about performance
which, although perhaps true, tend to reflect best case, rather than
worst case, performance. A typical one of these is: "I have a linear
sort algorithm". In fact the sort is a radix sort, which often performs
quite well, but which has n*2 worst case performance.

So, I'm STILL waiting to see Real Documentation.

Bob





Robert Bernecky      rbe@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.com  bernecky@itrchq.itrc.on.ca 
Snake Island Research Inc  (416) 368-6944   FAX: (416) 360-4694 
18 Fifth Street, Ward's Island
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2B9 
Canada
