+.de BO
+[\fB\\$1\fR]
+..
+.TH APL 1 "3 August 1983"
+.UC 4
+.SH NAME
+apl \- apl interpreter
+.SH SYNPOSIS
+.B apl
+.BO \-m
+.BO \-e
+.BO \-q
+.BO \-r
+.BO \-t
+.BO \-c
+.BO \-C
+.BO \-d
+.BO \-D
+[ws]
+.br
+.B apl2
+.BO \-m
+.BO \-e
+.BO \-q
+.BO \-r
+.BO \-t
+.BO \-c
+.BO \-C
+.BO \-d
+.BO \-D
+[ws]
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+This is the Unix APL interpreter.
+It has lived through several different versions of
+Unix and grown steadily more complex.
+Currently,
+a version of APL for Unix on the PDP-11
+and the VAX is supported.
+This version supports monadic and dyadic domino,
+a state indicator of sorts,
+and Unix I/O quad functions.
+.PP
+The best documentation concerning the
+use of APL once it has been started
+from the shell is the
+\fIUnix APL\\11 User's Manual\fR.
+This manual includes a list of the
+APL character set,
+system commands,
+quad functions,
+and i-beam functions,
+as well as an overall description of the
+use of APL.
+The specifics are contained in the
+four appendices for easy reference
+by the more experienced user.
+.PP
+The command invoking APL may optionally contain
+the name of a workspace file to be loaded
+(default is ``continue'',
+or,
+if ``continue'' does not exist in the current directory,
+APL starts executing with a ``clear ws'').
+.PP
+There are all sorts of flags which may be specified
+when APL is invoked.
+Only a subset of these are of general usefulness;
+the remainder exist for convenience in
+debugging and software maintenance purposes.
+In the following description,
+the flags are presented from
+those which are of the most general interest
+to those which are of interest only to
+persons maintaining APL.
+.PP
+Normally, APL runs in ``ASCII mode''.
+(This is discussed more fully following the
+description of the various flags.)
+If ``\-m'' is specified,
+APL ``maps'' the standard input and
+standard output as appropriate for use
+with an APL terminal.
+.PP
+By default, APL attempts to determine whether or
+not the standard input is a terminal.
+If not,
+all input will be echoed to the standard output.
+In this fashion,
+when APL is run with a pipe or disc file
+as input,
+the output clearly shows the commands
+issued along with their results.
+The ``\-e'' flag forces APL to echo its input
+to its output regardless of the input device.
+Similarly, ``\-q'' (``quiet'')
+forces APL not to echo its input to the standard output.
+.PP
+The flag ``\-r'' has meaning only when the Purdue
+EE editor XED is used.
+This flag is passed by APL to XED to
+invoke funny XED stuff.
+This is generally a non-portable feature.
+.PP
+By default,
+APL places its scratch files into /tmp.
+If the ``\-t'' flag is specified,
+temporary files will be placed into the
+current directory.
+.PP
+By default,
+APL catches fatal signals
+(e.g. memory fault,
+floating-point exception,
+etc.)
+and prints a termination message of the
+form:
+.IP
+ fatal signal: message
+.PP
+It then exits normally.
+If the flag ``\-c'' or ``\-C'' is specified,
+it will print this error message and then
+exit via an ``abort'',
+producing a core dump.
+If the flag ``\-d'' or ``\-D'' is specified,
+it will not catch fatal errors,
+and thus will be automatically terminated
+by the Unix kernel if a fatal signal
+is received.
+(This will also invoke a core dump.)
+These flags are useful for debugging APL,
+but aren't of much use to the ordinary user.
+.PP
+The program ``apl2'' is identical to ``apl''
+except that ``apl'' is double-precision and
+``apl2'' is single-precision.
+Workspaces are stored in whatever precision
+is in use,
+and are converted if necessary automatically
+when they are ``)load''ed.
+Effectively, ``apl2'' has twice
+as much space in its internal workspace.
+.PP
+APL is designed to operate principally from
+ASCII terminals.
+Upper-case letters are used for the various
+APL symbols,
+as described in a separate document.
+Overstrike characters,
+which generally will not appear as overstruck
+characters on a CRT screen,
+are generated by typing the first character,
+a control-H,
+and the second character.
+The order of the two characters is not significant.
+The workspace used by APL is stored in this
+special ASCII format.
+.PP
+APL does support APL terminals.
+To use APL from an APL terminal,
+it is necessary to specify the ``\-m''
+flag when calling APL from the shell;
+this causes the APL character set to
+be mapped to/from ASCII for input/output.
+The workspace file is still stored in
+ASCII format;
+thus work may be done interchangeably
+on both types of terminals.
+.SH HISTORY
+APL was originally written at Bell Labs by
+Ken Thompson,
+sometime before version six Unix.
+It was modified for a while at
+Yale University,
+and then came to Purdue University,
+where it has undergone extensive
+modification.
+It is currently being supported by
+the Electrical Engineering Unix network.
+Complaints, suggestions, or whatever
+should be forwarded to user ``bruner''
+on the EE Network system,
+or sent to either
+John Bruner
+or
+Dr. Anthony P. Reeves
+in the school of Electrical Engineering
+at Purdue University.
+.SH FILES
+/tmp/apled.###### - editor temporary file
+.br
+/tmp/aplws.###### - workspace temporary file
+.br
+continue - default workspace file
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+aplcvt(1) \- convert between PDP-11 and VAX workspace formats
+.br
+aplopr(1) \- output APL files to the Printronix printer
+.br
+cata(1) \- display functions with APL line numbers
+.br
+prws(1) \- print workspace
+.SH BUGS
+Character comparisons do not work.
+.br
+Only a restricted form of dyadic format is available.
+Laminate is not supported.
+.br
+The workspace size on the PDP-11 is limited to about
+5000 items in APL and
+10000 in APL2.
+.br
+The workspace size on the VAX
+is limited only by the virtual memory system.
projects / unix-history / commitdiff