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Seven Obscure Languages in Seven Weeks
book

Seven Obscure Languages in Seven Weeks

by Dmitry Zinoviev
October 2024
Intermediate to advanced
272 pages
6h 54m
English
Pragmatic Bookshelf
Content preview from Seven Obscure Languages in Seven Weeks

Deciphering APL Character Set

If someone asks you what the only thing that differentiates APL from 99.9 percent of other programming languages is, answer without hesitation: it’s APL’s character set.

The APL founding fathers were of a solid mathematical background. They intended to create a programming language resembling familiar mathematical notation as much as possible. Ideally, the user could type a formula in an APL interpreter window and instantly execute it. That’s how APL ended up with 65 special characters (in addition to the familiar alphanumerics, spaces, and punctuation), including , , , a “thumbnail” (), and even a grotesque overlay of O, Q/U, and T (the end of input—see Performing Input and Output):

The extended alphabet ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9798888651421Errata Page