General Correspondence

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 9

The VECTOR working group welcomes correspondence on any topic affecting the APL community. All letters should be addressed to the Editor, and should indicate whether they are for the general or technical section. (Letters containing APL code will normally be classed as 'technical'.) The editor reserves the right to edit any letter unless the writer states that it is to be published in full or not at all.

The Future of VECTOR¶

From: C.E. Williams, 12th February 1988

Sir,

PLEASE, PLEASE use all your influence on maintaining VECTOR in its present format. It is most professional and a book one can show with a certain amount of pride. To reduce it to a tatty few badly printed pages is the road downhill - fast!

I think the contents must have more for the beginner if I-APL is to prosper, but equally it must still cater for the advanced programmer, or again we will go downhill - fast. Surely one hiccup in the production of VECTOR is not a valid reason to introduce radical changes? Surely this is PANIC not a re-appraisal of the problem?

So PLEASE four issues as at present with the same format externally, at least. Let the Committee get things in perspective and re-arrange the production methods. There must be members willing to help. Let us hear what is required and assess the response.

Finally thanks a lot for 'Toward a Better Basic'. We need more of this type of article to encourage beginners. Thanks a lot too for all the work on I-APL. I was just about to give up on BAA, as I came to the conclusion that it was a secret society pledged to withhold all information on APL from all those not in the clique! I-APL came into being and, at last, I thought, a change of heart.

Yours sincerely,

C.E. Williams
[address omitted]