Coming out of the Closet

VECTOR Vol.3 No.4

Coming out of the closet: taking the Message to the People

by Dick Bowman

In recent months the B.A.A. Committee has increasingly been thinking about the way the APL community meets its own needs for communication about APL and the perception of APL which is held in the rest of the computing industry. Our conclusion is that there’s a gulf; we now want to see if there are ways in which we can help bridge the gap. As is our wont, we want to do this ina way which involves a lot of other people in doing the hard work  but bear with us because we also offer rewards.

The way we see it is as follows. The APL community is doing an absolutely splendid job of talking to itself; journals like Quote-Quad and some of the other national group publications are essential reading for the practising APLer, and we have an excellent annual conference which bursts at the seams with material we can use. But if you're not already within the APL community, you don’t know about this activity, and even if you did know it’s unlikely that you would find it compulsively attractive.

What the rest of the world knows about APL is culled from the general computing press and the various conferences and seminars which take place. The press is voicing opinions like APL is a language that looked promising in the 70’s but never really made it”, or it has short introductory pieces from people who have just found out about APL (and often seem to have grasped the wrong end of the stick). APL is very rarely mentioned at major computing events; we hear rumours about people submitting papers describing APL- based work which get rejected purely because APL isn’t one of the officially-approved  languages.

One thing which APL does have going for it is that most of the computing world knows of us; they may have weird notions, but at least we have some awareness (even if it’s the wrong sort). We have notoriety, let’s change it into respect. The current view of the B.A.A. Committee is that we should encourage people to try to present papers at events outside the APL circle and to write articles for the non-APL press; the people who are really using APL effectively should share their experiences and knowledge. What we’ve done so far is to create a starter list of events and publications which we think would be improved by contributions from the APL world. This is only a starter list and we will be overjoyed by anyone pointing out the virtues of the ten zillion places we haven’t included. As it stands we have (in no implied order):

Events Siggraph Annual Conference (ACM) OR Society Annual Conference BCS Human-Computer Interaction Group Conference (annually, September) BCS Expert Systems Group Conference (annually, December) Royal Statistical Society events BCS Software Engineering Group Conference (annually, September)

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BCS Medical Group events BCS Computer Education Group events BCS Computers in Education Group events Independent Schools Microelectronics Centre Publications BCS Expert Systems Group Journal Computing BCS Computer Bulletin Computer Weekly BCS Software Engineering Group Journal Datalink Mass-market personal computing’ magazines Practical Computing OR Society Journal Byte BCS Computers in Education Group Journal BCS Human-Computer Interaction Group Journal BCS Medical Group Journal Data Processing

Note how the British Computer Society figures in both lists; we are a Specialist Group and one of the benefits that this brings is that we have somewhat easier access to range of computing interests, events and publications. We want to exploit our advantages. Topics

Obviously suitable material for one place is not necessarily attractive to others; some events or publications may have restrictions which do not apply to others; and some routes may already be heavily over-subscribed.

The general themes which we, innocently, think are most sensible to expound on are biased heavily toward applications  the why and how of using APL effectively; the benefits to an organisation of doing certain things in APL; how to choose whether APL is a suitable vehicle. Essentially it seems good to emphasise novelty (give them a new viewpoint on things they believed they knew all about) and lace it with a little controversy (even ifonly in the title).

What we think needs emphasis is the effectiveness of APL as a problem-solving tool, and the fact that it is a tool which is relied on as a means of delivery in many organisations. APL is already in place, it’s not a solution looking for a problem.

Remember that just because YOU are the person doing it, something need not be boring. You almost certainly have things to say and to write about which are worthy of a public airing. The B.A.A. is more than happy to offer pre-publication counselling; if you have an idea which you think could go further and you want to discuss ways of advancing it, then contact any of the B.A.A. Committee.

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We are also interested in collecting information after the event  reviewing how it went on the night. Even if the unthinkable happens and your efforts are rejected, we would like to know why. It helps us understand the world’s perception of APL, and other people to avoid making the same mistakes.

Sticks

The mainstream  computing world is capable of totally ignoring us; some factions within that world might even see this as a positive strategy. If we want APL to grow and be used in those places where it can most effectively earn its keep, then it is our responsibility to keep the language in the public eye. If we don’t do it ourselves then no-one else will do it for us; do you really want to spend your remaining days writing RPG-II?

Carrots (Offered not to donkeys, but as some form of Incentive.)

Every year the B.A.A. is going to look at the coverage of APL in non-APL activities and publications; when we find things that are really excellent in terms of advancing the cause, we're going to acknowledge the originators. So, not only can you look forward to fame and fortune (sorry, we don’t give those away), we might also give you a trophy. We're negotiating even now (more news next time).

But (and it’s a serious proviso), we're not just handing out prizes to anybody

 if all your papers and articles are dogs then we reserve the option not to award any prizes (this is the B.A.A., not Cruft’s). And the usual disclaimer of course applies  even if they could read and write, the B.A.A. Committee members are disqualified from getting a prize either while in office or for work done during their period of office.

(Editor: Presumably these are very special carrots - other people to see in the dark!)

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