APL86 Quotes

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 86

There follows a short collection of interesting quotes heard at APL86. My apologies to those concerned if any distortions have crept in – they are purely unintentional.

“If your code has more pepper than your scrambled eggs you should rethink it” – Alan Graham, talking about APL2’s ‘each’ operator.

“Plus reduction is the most common use of reduction . . . for less imaginative people” – Ken Iverson.

“I was fighting IBM on these matters for twenty years before I started doing it from the outside” – Ken Iverson.

“I can’t remember if it’s encode or decode . . . . .” – APL86 speaker, followed by this comment from the audience: “Neither can we . . .”

“There’s only one thing worse than an APL bigot – an APL bigot who works in zero-origin” – Alan Graham, prior to displaying his zero-origin APL2 code.

“I don’t care how much CPU it takes – if you don’t use the CPU time now it’s gone forever” – Alan Graham.

“Scientists have discovered the missing link between Neanderthal man and intelligent man – it’s us” – Jim Brown, in his lecture on APL2 and A.I.

“If this APL thing is so good why isn’t it in my car?” – Roy Sykes’s mother, as quoted by Roy in his closing speech.

[Photograph: Katy Webster holding up a card across a crowded table.] Katy Webster poses Timo Seppala a tough question during a game of APL Trivia.

‘Photograph by permission of Ed Cherlin, Editor APL News’