APL BASICS

APL SYMBOLS:

FUNCTION SYMBOL LOCATION NOTES

ASSIGN „ Alt [ Do not use =.
ADD + Shift =
SUBTRACT - -
MULTIPLY × Alt - Do not use *.
DIVIDE ÷ Alt = Do not use /.
EXPONENTIAL * Shift 8 Do not use **.
LOGRITHM µ Alt Shift 8 µA Natural log of A
10µA Log base 10 of A
DIMENSION ½ Alt R Used to determine shape
or dimensions of data

EXAMPLE EQUATION:

ALGEBRAIC NOTATION X = 10 A = 3 + 4X
APL NOTATION X „ 10 A „ 3 + 4×X
A
43

THERE IS NO HIERARCHY TO MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS.

APL WORKS FROM RIGHT TO LEFT WITH NO EXCEPTIONS.

B„3+4×6+3 B „ 3 + (4 × 6) + 3
B„3+4×9 B „ 3 + 24 + 3
B „ 3 + 36 B „ 3 + 27
B „ 39 B „ 30
B B
39 30

EXAMPLE POLYNOMIAL EQUATION:

ALGEBRAIC A = 1.23 + 4.56X + 7.89X2 - 11.12X3

APL A „ 1.23 + (4.56×X) +( 7.89×X*2) + (-11.2×X*3)
ALTERNATIVE APL C „ 1.23 4.56 7.89 ¯11.12
A„+/C×X*0123
A
¯10284.17
 DATA STRUCTURES

SCALAR
A „ 10
A
10
½A
blank

VECTOR
A „ 10 20 30
A
10 20 30
½A
3

MATRIX
A„33½¼9
A
123
456
789
½A
33

DATA TYPES

BINARY
A„01101010
A
01101010
ŒDR A
11

INTEGER
A„12345
A
12345
ŒDR A
323

FLOATING POINT
A „ 1.2345 6.7890
A
1.2345 6.789
ŒDR A
645

CHARACTER
A „ 'METSIM'
A
METSIM
ŒDR A
82