APL.jl VS aplette

2. ipython repl

1. pairs with jaimebuelta's artistic vs engineering dichotomy, but also plays into the scientist wearing many more hats than just programmer. Code can be two or more degrees removed from the published paper -- code isn't the passion. There isn't reason, time, or motivation to think deeply about syntax.

2. For a lot of academic work, the programming language is primarily an interface to an advanced plotting calculator. Or at least that's how I think about the popularity of SPSS and Stata. Ipython and then jupyter made this easy for python.

For what it's worth, the lab I work for is mostly using shell, R, matlab, and tiny bit of python. For numerical analysis, I like R the best. It has a leg up on the interactive interface and feels more flexible than the other two. R also has better stats libraries. But when we need to interact with external services or file formats, python is the place to look (why PyPI beat out CPAN is similar question).

Total aside: Perl's built in regexp syntax is amazing and a thing I reach for often, but regular expressions as a DSL are supported almost everywhere (like using languages other than shell to launch programs and pipes -- totally find but misses all the ergonomics of using the right tool for the job). It'd love to explore APL as an analogous numerical DSL across scripting languages. APL.jl [0] and, less practically april[1], are exciting.

[0] https://github.com/shashi/APL.jl

APL.jl might be of interest to you.

There is Aplette which supposedly integrates nicely with other Unix tools. It's a port/update of the earlier openAPL source code, which I think was done by Ken Thompson? Here:

https://github.com/gregfjohnson/aplette

If you're interested in recent developments in array languages, I recommend checking out:

BQN https://mlochbaum.github.io/BQN/

ngn/k https://git.sr.ht/~ngn/k/tree/master/item/readme.txt (Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22009241)

aplette, which is a modernization of Ken Thompson's APL https://github.com/gregfjohnson/aplette (Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21740536)

I'd also recommend checking out J, which isn't a recent development, but has the best syntax out of all array languages, has the best development environments, is the easiest to learn (it has a way to learn it built into the language itself!), and is the only one that treats making GUIs as a first-class feature: jsoftware.com (Has so many previous discussions I just recommend using HN search to find them.)

The chat is biased to Dyalog APL, but a lot of the modern additions Dyalog has made to the language make it (in my opinion) worse as a notation, so ideally don't let it turn you off of the concept of array languages entirely if Dyalog doesn't "click" with you.

If you haven't already, you should also check out Notation as a Tool of Thought, a paper so good it won Iverson the Turing Award:

https://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/~jzhu/csc326/readings/iverson.p...