British APL Association News

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 6

Situations Filled and Vacant¶

The Association has filled two committee places and lost one; the role of Education Officer has been accepted by Dick Gray, and Geoff Kemmish becomes the new Technical Officer.

The position of Publicity Officer is again vacant following Mr Christopher Beatty’s resignation. This post requires an ability to handle Press contacts and a gift for phrasing announcements about Association affairs in an interesting and news-worthy manner. Duties include (a) handling all Press matters, including press releases, (b) liaising with sustaining members over matters of general APL market interest, (c) assisting the Journal Editor in promoting the circulation of VECTOR, and (d) helping the Activities Officer to publicise Association meetings.

Activities Programme 1985/6¶

Forthcoming Association activities include the following:

Other topics are being considered; hopefully we may be able to put on a special discussion/debate about ‘Marketing APL’ (is APL getting its fair share of the computing cake and what can/should we do to increase our slice of the action?). Anyone wishing to contribute to this debate is invited to contact the Activities Officer.

Contrary to the suggestion made elsewhere we are not planning to run a repeat of ‘APL84 In Focus’ during 1986 for the benefit of all those people who can’t make the trip to Manchester.

The venue will continue to be the Royal Overseas League (London W1) with all meetings scheduled to begin at 2pm; don’t forget the opportunity which this gives you to meet with other APL users and implementors both before and after the meeting proper.

Once again I remind everyone of the APL Publications bookstall which is a regular feature of London events and the opportunity which this gives you to purchase all that hard-to-find APL literature. A full list of available publications with prices can be found towards the end of the British APL Association News Section.

Please note that this programme is subject to revision; further details of each event will be sent to British members nearer to the date.

Annual General Meeting¶

The Annual General Meeting of the British APL Association will be held in the St. Andrews Hall at the Royal Overseas League starting at 2 pm on Tuesday 28 May 1985.

The following papers consist of:

• (a) A reminder about nominations for the committee
• (b) The Agenda
• (c) The minutes of the 1984 AGM
• (d) The draft Regulations for the Association
• (d) The secretary’s report on the committee meetings

a) Nominations for the Committee¶

To summarise the notice in Vector 3:

Nominations for the committee are to be sent to the secretary by the end of April 1985 and those received in time will be circulated to all members. Nominations can be accepted at the AGM until the chairman declares the list closed. Nominees (even if only nominated at the AGM) should be individual members of the Association, proposed and seconded by any class of member and nominations should include a brief description of their suitability and their intentions should they be elected.

b) Agenda for the AGM¶

The Agenda for the AGM is as follows:

1. Minutes of the 1984 AGM
   (These are printed below so that they may be taken as read if there are no objections at the meeting).
2. Chairman’s report
   The draft Regulations for the Association
   (This is printed below)
3. Votes on the motion “The new Regulations be adopted” (discussions will be restricted to amendments that have been passed for discussion by the committee and circulated to members; proposed amendments should be sent to the secretary)
   (The secretary will represent those unable to attend if they send him their — brief — representations beforehand)
4. Officers’ reports (Secretary, Treasurer, Activities Officer, Journals Officer, Education Officer, Technical Officer)
5. Call for final nominations and listing of candidates
6. Elections — conducted by the chairman
7. Close of AGM followed by the ordinary meeting.

Note: The new officers take office at the close of the AGM and handovers are made at the first committee meeting after the AGM. Both old and new committees are to attend that meeting.

c) Minutes of the 1984 AGM¶

Minutes of the AGM of the APL Society held in the Read Lecture Theatre, Imperial College, on 20 January 1984

1. Officers’ Reports

The Chairman reviewed the year: the Society is seven years old, prosperous and growing (though not as fast as we would like). It has held five meetings this year and a major three day conference, published two magazines and conference proceedings and a third magazine is expected from the printer within a week. A task force was set up in November to recommend how the Society should be improved and its proposals were circulated to all members for discussion today.

The acting secretary reported on behalf of Gordon Sutcliffe, that the five (well attended) meetings were:

January: Phil Chastney on Hunting the Snark
March: Three speakers on implementations of VS APL, APL*PLUS and Dyalog APL
May: A joint meeting with the Local Authorities APL User Group to hear six speakers on subjects connected with APL and education.
November: A workshop on Idioms in APL
The APL Business Technology 83 conference and exhibition was held at Loughborough in September: over 200 people attended and 43 papers were read. Most of the major APL vendors exhibited.

The treasurer reported that when all debts were paid the Society would have a surplus this year of £7333, of which £5193 was attributable to APL Business Technology 83. Nearly six thousand pounds was owed to the Society. The accumulated surplus from last year was £1182 so the Society’s assets at the end of its financial year (31 October 1983 — the Society’s financial year will now be aligned to the B.C.S. financial year) were £8515. The balance sheet was shown in a simplified form on an overhead projector slide.

The membership secretary reported approximately 450 members of whom about 50 lived abroad.

1. The chairman went through the proposals for the improvement of the Society which were slightly amended by the morning committee meeting. The new committee is to have eight officers and no limit on the number of ordinary members who may be co-opted: a student grade is to be considered: the committee may recommend a representative to the APL standards committee and work towards establishment of standards for representation of APL in ASCII. There was no dissension. The proposals are therefore accepted and the new committee is to act on them.

2. The elections were held by displaying the nominations for each post in turn, asking for further nominations, reading out a brief note about each candidate and then taking a vote. Voting was by show of hands.

The following officers were elected:

No ordinary members were elected: the following offered their services or were nominated:

David Allen, Peter Cyriax, Ron Fuss, Marc Griffiths, Chris Hogan, Valerie Lusmore, Tony Moore, Dominic Murphy, David Preedy, Adrian Smith, Chris Smith, Prof. Barrie Weatherill, Stan Wilkinson.

Anyone wishing to help who preferred not to be on the committee was asked to let the secretary have their name address and area of interest at the end of the meeting.

1. The Chairman explained that the Society’s year is to be changed to match the BCS accounting year and so the newly elected committee will hold office for a little over a year.

2. The Society’s business was concluded at 3.05 p.m. by which time there were over 80 people present.

Anthony Camacho 21 January 1984
Signed P S Goacher (Chairman) 31 January 1984

d) Draft Regulations for adoption at the AGM¶

BRITISH APL ASSOCIATION — DRAFT REGULATIONS

1. NAME

The Group shall be called The British APL Association.

2. AFFILIATION

The Association is and shall be affiliated to The British Computer Society (BCS) as a Specialist Group.

3. OBJECTS

• (a) To promote the use of APL;
• (b) To develop awareness and competence in APL;
• (c) To represent the interests of Association members with other bodies;
• (d) To contribute to the development of the language and definition of international standards.

4. CONSTITUTION

The British APL Association shall consist of:

• (a) President and Vice Presidents;
• (b) Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer;
• (c) Other elected officers;
• (d) Individual fee paying members;
• (e) Individual fee paying student members;
• (f) Corporate members;
• (g) Sustaining members.

5. MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING

A member in categories 4(d), 4(e), 4(f), or 4(g) is in good standing with the Association by virtue of having paid all membership fees due to the Association for the current year. Memberships which are not renewed in the first four months of a new financial year (by 31 August) are deemed to have lapsed.

6. APPOINTED OFFICERS

• (a) A President may be appointed at the discretion of the Management Committee.
• (b) A maximum of four Vice Presidents may be appointed in recognition of service to the APL community at the discretion of the Management Committee.
• (c) Appointed Officers may serve for a period of one year with up to two consecutive renewals. Non-contiguous periods of office are permitted with no limit.
• (d) Appointed Officers shall have the right to attend free of admission charge all General Meetings of the Association and all events staged by the Association.

7. ELECTED OFFICERS

• (a) The Elected Officers shall be Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer who must be individual fee paying members in good standing.
• (b) Other officers may be elected to fill posts created by the Management Committee.
• (c) It is the duty of Elected Officers to attend meetings of the committee.
• (d) Election: The officers shall be elected by the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and shall serve from the end of the meeting at which they are elected until the end of the AGM following.
• (e) Casual Vacancy: A vacancy occurring during the term of office may be filled by an appointment by the Management Committee.

8. MANAGEMENT

• (a) The affairs of the Association shall be managed (subject to the control of the AGM) by a Management Committee comprising:
  • (i) Appointed Officers
  • (ii) Elected Officers
• (b) Co-option: The Management Committee may co-opt members as required, normally to hold office until the next AGM.
• (c) The General Committee of the Association shall comprise the Management Committee together with members of Sub-Committees and Working Parties which from time to time be set up by the Management Committee.
• (d) Meetings: The Management Committee shall meet at least four times in its year of office and frequently enough to carry out the business of the Association properly.
• (e) Notice: At least 14 days notice of the place, date and time of meetings shall be given to each member of the relevant committee.
• (f) Quorum: The business of the Association may be transacted by not less than half the members of the Management Committee.
• (g) In the absence of the Chairman, the Management Committee shall elect one of its members to take the chair for the meeting.
• (h) Voting: In determining a question by vote of the majority of the members present, each having one vote, the Chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
• (i) Standing Committees: The Management Committee is empowered to set up Standing Committees to deal with matters that require continuity. A member of the Management Committee will sit on each Standing Committee.
• (j) Sub-Committees and Working Parties: The Management Committee may set up at any time sub-committees and working parties responsible to the Management Committee which shall appoint a Chairman and provide appropriate terms of reference.

9. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

• (a) Each year the Association shall hold an AGM in May.
• (b) Notice: The Secretary shall send, at least 28 days before, notice of the date, time and place of the AGM, together with the Agenda, to all members of the Association. For this purpose a notice printed in the official publication of the Association shall be considered sufficient.
• (c) All members have the right to attend the AGM for which there shall be no attendance charge.
• (d) Agenda: The following items shall be included:
  • (i) Minutes of the previous AGM;
  • (ii) Minutes of any Extraordinary General Meeting held since the previous AGM;
  • (iii) Chairman’s Report;
  • (iv) Management Committee Officers’ Reports;
  • (v) Audited Statement of Accounts;
  • (vi) Proposals for Alterations to Regulations;
  • (vii) Proposals for Alterations to Fees;
  • (viii) Election of Officers;
  • (xi) Ratification of Auditors.
• (e) Nominations: Any member in good standing is entitled to nominate another individual member in good standing for any elected office on the Management Committee. Such nominations may be proposed and seconded at the meeting if not previously received by the Secretary.
• (f) Voting: Every question at an AGM shall be decided by a majority of the votes cast. Individual members of the Association each have a single vote. The accredited representative of each corporate and sustaining member have five votes which may be split as desired. If the vote is tied, then there shall be a recount; if this fails to resolve the matter the candidate with the least votes is removed and the vote retaken, this process continuing until there is a decisive vote — or it cannot be continued, in which case the Chairman has a casting vote.

10. EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

• (a) An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) shall be convened on a resolution of the Management Committee or within five weeks of receipt of the Secretary of a requisition signed by no less than one quarter of the current membership in good standing stating the business to be transacted at the meeting.
• (b) Regulation 7, except subparagraph (d) and (e) shall apply.
• (c) An EGM shall transact only such business as is specified in the resolutions or requisitions concerning it.

11. FINANCE

• (a) The Association shall follow the BCS Financial Guidelines as issued from time to time insofar as they apply to Specialist Groups.
• (b) Bank Account: In accordance with the BCS Financial Guidelines, the Association shall have at least one Account (Account A) at Lloyds Bank, Langham Place Branch, used for normal running expenses. Other accounts at the branch may be used for special events or investment funds.
• (c) The financial year shall start on 1 May each year when membership fees become due.
• (d) The Chairman is responsible to the BCS for submitting draft budgets, recording ongoing expenditure and capital expenditure separately for each year by 30 November in the preceding year.
• (e) The Chairman is responsible for making available to the BCS a receipts and payments statement at the end of every financial year (30 April) in respect of the Association’s normal operations and special events; this statement to be included in the BCS annual accounts subject to audit by the BCS auditors.
• (f) All cheques drawn on the Association’s bank accounts must be signed by any two of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.
• (g) The accounts of the Association shall be audited each year by an auditor appointed by the Committee.
• (h) All income and property of the Association from whatever source derived shall be applied solely to the promotion of the objects of the Association.
• (i) No member of the Association shall receive payment for his services as a member.

12. DISSOLUTION

In the event of the winding up or dissolution of the Association any surplus assets remaining after discharge of liabilities shall automatically vest in the BCS.

13. THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY

• (a) The Association shall be governed by the regulations of the BCS as these apply to Specialist Groups of the BCS. Where it is considered that a regulation of the Association is in conflict with a BCS regulation governing Specialist Group activities, the BCS rule shall apply.
• (b) The Chairman of the Association must be a Fellow, Member or Associate Member of the BCS.
• (c) Other elected officers of the Association should normally be members of the BCS.
• (d) The Chairman of the Association is ex officio a member of the BCS Specialist Groups Board and is thereby eligible, if nominated and elected, to be one of three representatives of the Specialist Groups Board appointed to the Council of the BCS.
• (e) The Chairman or his representative is expected to attend four Specialist Group Board meetings each year.
• (f) The Association must advise the Vice President (Specialist Groups) of those members of the Management Committee of the Association who are not members of the BCS.
• (g) All members of the Management Committee shall abide by the Code of Conduct relating to members of the BCS.
• (h) The Association may use the BCS name to enhance the reputation of its own activities but must not bring the BCS into disrepute.
• (i) No member of the Association may speak on behalf of the BCS without proper authority from the BCS.

e) Secretary’s Report on Committee Meetings¶

There have been eight committee meetings since the 1984 AGM. There will be one more on the morning of the 1985 AGM. Members attendances have been as follows:

P = present   A = apologies   R = resigned

Committee meetings have usually occupied a whole morning or afternoon. Their efficiency was improved when Dick Bowman’s suggestion was acted on (that officers reports are circulated before the meeting). He has done this regularly for activities and APL 86. My aim in the summaries of the year’s committee meetings that follow is to reflect to the members how the committee has managed the Association’s affairs; many people (especially those on the Vector and Activities working parties) have done a great deal of work for the Association this year which will not be mentioned below.

10 Feb 84
The main work was on the plans for Activities and Vector. The accounts were to be completed and proposals for promotions, technical work and education were discussed. Over a score of volunteers were to be approached for help. Work also began on the takeover by the BCS admin of the chore of membership record maintenance.

9 Mar 84
Romilly Cocking resigned through pressure of work. The secretary’s draft of the Association’s aims was approved. The Treasurer’s draft budget was agreed. The Activities officer reported working party progress and suggested “APL 84 In Focus”. New membership grades and ‘sustaining’ memberships were discussed. Plans for Vector 1 were approved.

11 May 84
Fred Perkins resigned in view of a projected move to Toronto. The Chairman reported final agreement to our new name “The British APL Association”. The Treasurer had sorted out a great deal of outstanding mail. The Activities officer reported “APL 84 In Focus” was arranged and on the outline of the winter programme. The Journal officer reported that Vector 1 would be ready for APL 84 in Helsinki. A working party on APL 86 was formed (PSG, MC & DB). Treasurer and Chairman agreed to spend two days sorting out the membership records and Secretary to reply to three dozen outstanding queries.

13 Jul 84
The Treasurer reported progress on subscription reminders, debt collection and audit: MC and PSG were voted thanks. The Activities officer reported “APL 84 in Focus” was a success (the working party was congratulated) and proposed “What’s New for 85”. The Journal officer reported that Vector 1 just got to Helsinki and that Vector 2 was in hand. Christopher Beattie resigned as Education officer and was co-opted as Promotions officer. Geoff Kemmish was co-opted as Technical Officer. The APL86 subcommittee had advertised APL86 at Helsinki.

21 Sep 84
The Secretary produced the Association’s advertising leaflet. His proposal for formalising the special relationship between the Association and APL Publications was agreed. The Chairman reported that Vector 2 was being printed and undertook to arrange publicity through the BCS for Association activities. He also offered to draft a constitution. The APL86 subcommittee’s recommendation of the UMIST venue was accepted (the conference had outgrown the accommodation at Oxford or Cambridge).

[Secretary’s Note:
The following people now (March 85) comprise the APL86 Organising Committee:

Dick Bowman, Chairman
Sarah Swindells, (BISL) minutes secretary and acting admin.
Phil Goacher, Publicity
Mel Chapman, Finance
Christine McCree, Exhibition
Geoff Kemmish, Technical
Anthony Camacho, Programme]

10 Jan 85
The Activities officer reported the change in venue for March and subsequent meetings and the consequent variation in dates. The Chairman of APL86 reported a Call for Papers had gone into Vector 3 (a brochure is to be part of Vector 4) and various arrangements for representation at Seattle (for which Vector 4 is essential — the absence of the Journal officer was regretted). The Secretary reported that a notice about elections for the 1985-6 committee had gone into Vector 3.

15 Mar 85
The Secretary offered the AGM arrangements and agenda which were approved together with the Chairman’s draft Regulations. The Treasurer’s draft budget for 1985-6 and the new membership rates were accepted. The Secretary is to publish these in Vector.

The Activities officer reported a profit on ‘Whats New for 85’. His proposal to send out a mailshot to canvass support for a workshop on ADRS was approved. The Secretary was asked to book the Royal Overseas League rooms for the rest of 1985 and provisionally for spring 1986.

The Journal officer: The Committee was most disturbed to have no representative or report from Vector in spite of previous appeals and minutes.

The Technical Officer was in the USA and made no report.

The Chairman of APL86 reported that means of overcoming the large debt incurred during run up to APL86 were being investigated. The major publicity drive begins at APL85.

Anthony Camacho, Secretary, 13 March 1985 E & OE

Booklist¶

LIST OF BOOKS STOCKED AND ON SALE: NOTE SPECIAL PRICES FOR MEMBERS

PLEASE ORDER DIRECT FROM APL PUBLICATIONS

APL Publications: L.R. Hollingbery, [address and telephone number omitted]

This list replaces all previous lists.

Prices are in pounds sterling and are as as 1st May 1985
Terms: sterling cheque with order; invoices payable on receipt of books.
Non-UK postage is extra: please specify AIRMAIL or SURFACE MAIL.

Save postage: a selection of books is usually on sale at APL Association meetings.