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From: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: APL Query
Message-ID: <330@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Jul-84 18:25:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.330
Posted: Tue Jul 31 18:25:50 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 1-Aug-84 00:30:39 EDT
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 49

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< ASBESTOS SUIT ON >

I was wrong!!!  (what's new about that, you may ask...  :-)  )

What I thought was:
  - in graphics mode, the PC is restricted to displaying 128
    characters instead of 256.  These may, however, be user-defined.
What is really the truth:
  - Only 128 characters of the standard set are accessible.  However,
    128 user-defined characters may also be accessed.
Ooops...

< ASBESTOS SUIT OFF >

As I see it, though, the IBM approach still has a couple of drawbacks:
(1) Since you are in graphics mode (and assume 80 cols, right?) you
    are restricted to plain white-on-black characters.  No highlights
    or fancy colours from your IBM RGB display.
(2) You *must* use the IBM colour/graphics adapter (personally I'll
    take nice text & lack of flicker over graphics any day).  You
    can't use the monochrome adapter, or something like a Hercules
    card.  No such problem with STSC's APL.
(3) You can't access the screen memory directly (only a minor complaint)

> Well, you can go to DOS to use auxiliary processors.  IBM's APL comes
> with auxiliary processors to do screen management, file access,
> talk over the communications port, handle the line printer,
> make BIOS requests, and even play music.  The documentation
> supplied with the system even tells you how to write your own
> auxiliary processors, without changing the language or the system.

I can't see how auxiliary processors are less ``barocque'' than system
commands and variables.  They are awkward (share the variable, assign,
unshare vs. just calling system function), and difficult to remember.
I've used a VS APL on VM/SP (shame on me!) extensively, and I think
using things like GDDM (a graphics/screen management system) through
auxiliary processors is a royal pain.  The control codes are obscure
(quick!  what does a 72 do when sent through to AP45?) and the whole
thing just seems artificial.

BTW, STSC's APL runs on many machines including 370 series, VAX, PC
and TRS-80, so it is at least somewhat portably written.

Maybe this discussion should be in net.lang.apl in any case...


	Tom "Who said I that I actually *like* the PC???" Haapanen
	{allegra,decvax,ihnp4}!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen