I-APL: Special BAA Meeting

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 13

British APL Association News¶

by Graham Parkhouse

BAA Gives Further Support to I-APL¶

A further £2,000 has been given to I-APL, the project which is producing the free APL interpreter for school and home computers. This was agreed at the BAA committee meeting of 25th February 1988 and brings the BAA's total contribution to I-APL to £8,000. The meeting had been arranged especially to consider I-APL Ltd's application, made in January, for a further £5,000. All the committee were present except for Dave Ziemann.

Anthony Camacho, "Old World" chairman of I-APL Ltd and former Secretary of the BAA, came to the meeting to describe progress to date and to present his case. The meeting heard how I-APL was becoming a success story, how the mailing list was 1000 long and growing at 40 to 50 per week. Distribution was already being cared for by national organisations in six countries.

David Eastwood, the BAA's projects officer, was in the chair. He dismissed a suggestion made by Anthony that the BAA had not always been wholeheartedly behind I-APL; he said that surely we must presume this cannot be the case in view of the £6,000 already given. Norman Thomson proposed the motion that "the committee approves of the progress of the I-APL project so far and supports its current aims", and this was carried unanimously.

Anthony said he needed and welcomed help, and the meeting considered the possibility of the BAA taking responsibility for marketing and distribution of I-APL in Britain. If the BAA were to take this on, I-APL Ltd would be free to manage international co-ordination of the project and to maintain and extend the written material associated with it. Marketing was discussed at some length. The difficulties of introducing APL to education could not be over-estimated, it was said. It might be sensible to employ a company already experienced in marketing educational software, who already had good contacts with the decision makers in the educational system.

Mel Chapman and Norman Thomson both emphasized the importance of getting APL to be accepted as a language that may be used for answering examination questions, because until knowledge of APL counted towards examination results it could only appeal to enthusiasts. Mel pointed out that school computing as currently taught was regarded as a hurdle in higher education; lecturers in computer science at universities and polytechnics universally wish their students had never been taught what they now tend to learn about computers in schools. Summing up, David Eastwood said it looked like the BAA were offering to do the marketing and Anthony Camacho offered to help the BAA in every way possible to do it effectively.

Concerning financial help, Anthony explained that I-APL Ltd's overdraft stood at £2,000, which was incurred by the recent printing of the encyclopaedias, tutorials and the manuals for the PC version. While there was already income from their sale, there were manuals for the BBC and CBM 64 to be printed at £500 per set, as well as on-going expenses. Each mail-shot was now costing about £300. To put these figures in context, he referred the committee to the notes of the AGM of I-APL Ltd, held at Sydney during APL 88, which gave the total donations collected as £21,950, of which £20,700 had been spent on programming.

Mel Chapman suggested that the BAA should donate a further £2,000 to pay off the overdraft and that David Eastwood should prepare a recommendation for what additional help should be given to I-APL Ltd, regarding existing and near-future financial needs, and regarding getting I-APL into schools. These suggestions were put to the vote. That David should prepare a recommendation was passed unanimously, that a donation of £2,000 should be made straight away was passed 6 to 1. Anthony left the meeting with a cheque.

Graham Parkhouse,
Hon. Sec. BAA,
[address omitted]