A Report on the Second Winchester Summer Course in APL

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 18

Promoting APL as a suitable language for use in secondary schools seems at first sight an almost impossible task. If the average computing teacher has heard anything at all about APL it is that the language is unreadable and written in a bizarre character set. It goes without saying that the organisers of the APL course for teachers relish the challenge and to add further spice the course is arranged at the end of the summer term when teachers' energies are at their lowest ebb.

A rather apprehensive group of ten teachers assembled at Winchester for the weekend of 8-11 July. We found that we represented a wide range of educational establishments, comprehensives, independent schools and further education colleges. Even one county advisor managed to spare some time from his heavy round of administrative duties. Our experience of computing was equally varied as about half our number were principally teachers of mathematics.

Little time was wasted by our energetic and enthusiastic instructors, Norman Thomson, Anthony Camacho, John Durran and Sylvia Camacho. The computer centre at King Alfred's College was reassuringly equipped with BBC computers, but as these were running the I-APL interpreter we soon found ourselves unlearning familiar concepts: * no longer meant multiply, ÷ was used for division instead of / and arithmetic now had to be done starting from the right.

Adapting to the APL symbols proved less of a problem than might have been expected. We were soon able to solve elementary problems and practise in the "voluntary" evening sessions which only terminated on the arrival of the caretaker at 9 o'clock. The main impression this work left me with was the ease with which APL handles operations on vectors and matrices.

Norman Thomson led the course at a fast pace and, looking back, I am astonished at the number of topics we covered in three days. Guest speaker Michael Kingston helped to place this activity in context by stressing the features of APL which made it attractive in commercial installations.

On the final morning time was found for a discussion on the future of APL in education. No definite conclusions were reached and this may have been because APLers wanted to talk about general principles underlying teaching while the teachers tried to move the discussion to particular applications of APL in the school situation.

I certainly plan to introduce APL into my teaching next year, but I am fortunate in having one class which is not working to any set syllabus, leaving me free to experiment with new ideas. It is much more difficult to see how APL could fit in with GCSE courses or with the developing National Curriculum.

Was the course a success? On the personal level, certainly. The teachers were encouraged to join in the discussion by the informal approach adopted by our tutors, not hesitating to interrupt each other to amplify a point of interest or correct an obscurity. Will significant numbers of schoolchildren have an opportunity to experiment with APL in the foreseeable future? I think this is likely, but without the efforts of I-APL there would be none at all. I am sure all the participants would join me in thanking the organisers and tutors, the British APL Association and those working for I-APL. If we gained nothing else from the course we have seen something of the power of APL and can understand why the APL community feels that the language deserves a wider audience.