APLse - APL with Graphics

APLse is Android version of the free STSC APL/PC. Now runs on Android 5 tablets

The STSC APL/PC product was released as a freeware product to promote APL education and research, and dates from the early 1990's. It is a fully functional APL interpreter, albeit with a small footprint workspace architecture. Useful examples can be constructed, and real mathematical calculations can be carried out, to reasonable levels of precision. Additionally, several experimental example workspaces are provided.

The application comes right up in desktop calculator mode. One may exit with APL command ")off", and return to Android main-screen level. Workspaces may be loaded and saved to the "/mnt/sdcard" emulated common area, and these may be migrated between Windows or Linux P/C's by means of standard Android FTP utilities running over WiFi. The APLse workspaces can be run on Linux P/C's using the "DOSemu" DOS emulator, and on Windows based machines using various versions of DOSbox, or directly using CMD level sessions.

The APLse release is experimental, and is intended primarily for educational and research use. Testing has been limited to Android KitKat 4.4.2 and 4.0.1 series Samsung tablets, at this time.

*** UPdate: APLse now runs on Android-5 ! The change involved re-coding jobject pointers that were local static to use the NewGlobalRef feature, first documented in Android ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich), and now part of the new ART (Android Run Time engine) in Android 5 (Lollipop) devices. APLse users are encourged to forward operation reports to our email address. Current testing has been limited to Android 5.0.2 tablets, including Samsung Galaxy Tab-A, Tab-3 and Tab-4.

APLse must be run with the "Hackers Keyboard" product, available on the Google Play Store, at this time. The "Hackers Keyboard" is so named, because it provides a full suite of correctly-emulated P/C keys which are being interpreted correctly by APLse. It is also highly customizable. It need to be installed as both an active keyboard (put a check in the Settings checkbox be side it, at Android "Settings" level, and *also* make it the "Default Keyboard", also in Andorid "Settings". (You get to Android Settings, by pressing the little "Gear" icon. But this keyboard does not have APL images, which means the APL characters are not visible on the keytop images, but Gemesys hopes to extend the "gKeyboard" to operate with APLse at some point in the future.

APL characters for both APLse and sAPL APL's are generated by pressing the ALT key, and then pressing the corresponding text key. This allows all the APL special characters, such as "quad" and "left-arrow" for assignment, "rho", the dimension generator and indicator, and "iota", the index-generator, to be generated and seen correctly on the Android screen. The use of these glyphic special characters is part of the genius of the original APL design, and GEMESYS Ltd. is pleased to make this most excellent language available on the Android platform.

APLse is completely free of charge, and no in-app advertising or monitoring is occuring, nor are any interstitial advertisements wrapped around the product. It is hoped that by bringing this excellent APL interpreter to Android devices, that usage and understanding of the virtue of this iconic technology can be enhanced and encouraged.

Please understand, no warranty of any kind is provided with this experimental software, and as a result of the use of emulation, it may behave in unpredictable and undesireable ways. Further, it has not been tested on Android 5.x machines, and as it currently uses the Dalvik virtual machine that is supplied with Samsung Android 4.x (Kitkat) devices, usage with the latest Android 5.x ART - the Android Run Time environment - may be problematic.

Feel free to send me status reports or questions.

Mark Langdon,

GEMESYS Ltd.