What are Array Programming Languages? Array programming languages are exemplified by APL (A Programming Language) but include a number of other languages such as J, K, A+, Gauss, Numpy, Matlab, Octave, Nial, R and S+. APL is the original array programming language. It was created by Ken Iverson in the late 1950s to address the inconsistency and irregularity of traditional mathematical notation. Also, APL extends the idea of notation to be executable. The language consists of symbols organized by a logical syntax to describe the processing of data. The power of APL comes from its direct manipulation of n-dimensional arrays of data. The APL primitives express broad ideas of data manipulation. These rich and powerful primitives can be strung together to perform in one line what would require pages in other programming languages. This terseness is not for its own sake but to provide compact tools for thinking about programming problems. APL's interactive environment encourages experimentation and facilitates rapid prototyping and modification of programs and applications. APL is one of the most concise, consistent, and powerful programming languages ever devised. J is a relatively new incarnation of APL, also invented by Ken Iverson. J removed the need for a special character set, using ASCII characters for all primitives.

Why APL?