Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Replicate: NARS2000 vs GNU APL

92 views
Skip to first unread message

Brian McGuinness

unread,
Aug 30, 2021, 4:24:55 PM8/30/21
to
NARS2000 requires the left and right arguments to have the same length:

1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
LENGTH ERROR
1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30

¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
0 0 20 20 20 30 30


GNU APL requires the number of nonnegative values in the left argument to match the number of items in the right argument:

1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
10 0 0 20 20 20 30 30
¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
LENGTH ERROR
¯2 3 2/10 20 30
^ ^


The GNU APL approach seems to agree with the description of replicate in the IBM APL2 manual.

J. Clarke

unread,
Aug 30, 2021, 5:44:25 PM8/30/21
to
On Mon, 30 Aug 2021 13:24:54 -0700 (PDT), Brian McGuinness
<b.mcgui...@gmail.com> wrote:

>NARS2000 requires the left and right arguments to have the same length:
>
> 1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
>LENGTH ERROR
> 1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
> ?
> ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
>0 0 20 20 20 30 30
>
>
>GNU APL requires the number of nonnegative values in the left argument to match the number of items in the right argument:
>
> 1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
>10 0 0 20 20 20 30 30
> ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
>LENGTH ERROR
> ¯2 3 2/10 20 30
> ^ ^
>
>
>The GNU APL approach seems to agree with the description of replicate in the IBM APL2 manual.

The following trace is from Dyalog:
1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
LENGTH ERROR
1 ¯2 3 2/10 20 30
^

I believe emulating Dyalog is a better choice than emulating APL2,
which seems to be starting down the path to abandonware.

Adám Brudzewsky

unread,
Aug 31, 2021, 9:36:45 AM8/31/21
to
After Dyalog adopted the definition of Replicate used by NARS, APL2 developed another definition, which differs in its handling of negative numbers in the left argument. In APL2, a negative number does not "consume" an element of the right argument, so that instead of (≢⍺)=≢⍵, we have (+/0≤⍺)=≢⍵. Developers of XAPL noticed that both extensions can be supported simultaneously: if the left argument has any negative numbers, the interpreter can tell which one the programmer meant by checking whether the right argument's length is equal to the left (NARS-style) or shorter (APL2-style). In fact, APLX already does this:
```
APLX for Windows
Copyright (C) 2001-2010 MicroAPL Ltd
WS Size = 20.0MB, Version = 5.1.0
CLEAR WS
1 ¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
10 0 0 20 20 20 30 30
¯2 3 2 / 10 20 30
0 0 20 20 20 30 30
```

joseph turco

unread,
Oct 6, 2021, 2:14:28 PM10/6/21
to
sorry to hijack this thread, but are you learning GNU APL from the IBM manual? I cant find anything like 'Mastering dyalog APL' for using GNU APL.

Brian McGuinness

unread,
Oct 24, 2021, 9:54:33 PM10/24/21
to
I am experimenting with the interpreters and comparing the results with a copy of the IBM APL2 manual.

--- Brian McGuinness
0 new messages