The APL Show podcast
Inspired by Ken Iverson’s paper “Notation as a Tool of Thought”, this podcast explores various aspects of notation, in the context of the APL programming language.
Adám Brudzewsky & Richard Park
Show overview
The APL Show podcast launched in 2022 and has put out 10 episodes in the time since. Releases follow a monthly cadence.
None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.
The catalogue appears to be on hiatus or wound down — the most recent episode landed 3 years ago, with no new episodes in over a year. Published by Adám Brudzewsky & Richard Park.
From the publisher
Inspired by Ken Iverson’s paper “Notation as a Tool of Thought”, this podcast explores various aspects of notation, in the context of the APL programming language.
Latest Episodes
Terminology, Files, and Array Theory
Together with out first guest, Silas Poulson, we begin by discussing terminology, but then we go on a wild ride, mentioning the history of file operations, review of various primitives, APL’s array model, comparison of ways to apply functions, glyphs, syntax, and much more.
Primitives Extravaganza Continued
We continue discussing the pros and cons of adding primitives, and go through a few more that could be useful to have.
Reaction to “Change the way you write. Change the way you think. — part 2”
Second part of our reaction to Xuanyi Chew’s presentation at DataEngBytes 2022.
Reaction to “Change the way you write. Change the way you think. — part 1”
First part of our reaction to Xuanyi Chew’s presentation at DataEngBytes 2022.
Primitives Extravaganza
After introducing the constraints on primitive proliferation, we begin listing what we’d want, only to end up discussing the Under/Dual operator, and its issues.
Processes and Structures
After establishing our new name, we look at graphical diagrams that implement the structure of a system, and compare to the evolution of Iverson Notation into today’s traditional user-defined functions in APL. We also discuss what aspects of that could be desirable in an integrated development environment.
How to Structure APL Programs
High-level structuring of APL programs, abstraction levels, coding style, and building a tiny DSL for nicer code.
Functional Forms
Pros and cons of APL’s functional forms, and in which situations they should and shouldn’t be used.
Notational Awkwardnesses
Evolution of the 2D Iverson Notation into modern APL, alternative syntaxes, and also notational awkwardnesses stemming from binding strengths; stranding, bracket axis and indexing, issues with the rank operator, etc.
Indexing in APL vs Yorick
The indexing notation and broadcasting rules of the Yorick programming language based on a tweet by Jeremy Howard, and conclude that the two approaches achieve the same thing; one by manipulating data shape until broadcasting achieves desired result, the other by applying additional broadcasting rules on the existing shapes.