Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
Path: watmath!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!watserv1!70530.1226@compuserve.com
From: Mike Kent <70530.1226@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re:  Looking for good APL2 book
Message-ID: <930124030932_70530.1226_DHP58-1@CompuServe.COM>
Sender: root@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 03:09:33 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.065531.22302@Princeton.EDU>,
lardieri@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Stephen Lardieri) writes:

>>  I would like to learn the APL2 language and am looking for 
>>  recommendations on a good book to buy.  I would prefer a book that 
>>  does not assume I will be using one particular computer system.
>>  ...
>>  I will be using APL2 1.3.0 on an IBM 3090 ... I will eventually be 
>>  using STSC APL on a PC ...

"APL2 at a Glance", by Brown et. al. is pretty good at an elementary
level, which is fortunate as it's the only general introduction to APL2
that I know of.  For more depth, the choice is clear (to me):  the IBM
APL2 Language Reference.  The Manugistics/STSC documentation is pretty
good, as _documentation_, but the Language Reference describes, then
illuminates and explains.  Both are IBM-specific, but for base language 
this is not a problem as the Manugistics/STSC implementation has converged
with IBMs, and both are quite close to the ISO Extended APL Draft
Standard.    

The significant differences between the IBM and Manugistics products are  
in the way they handle contact with the outside world, for instance file,
screen, printer I/O, and calls to non-APL routines.  For this you _have_
to have an implementation-specific reference, as no two APL systems are
identical, and (except for mainframe implementations for IBM hardware),
they aren't even similar enough to get much benefit from knowing one when
you have to learn another.

// mike

