Skip to content

Projects Report

from John Searle (November 29, 1990)

Vector 7:3, page 9

APL community

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

I see my role as Projects Officer as a coordinator and facilitator of members’ ideas. If you have an idea for worthwhile expenditure of the Association’s resources (money, expertise, APL skills and/or personpower) please submit it to me. A one-page proposal is quite sufficient, with convincing arguments in sufficient detail to promote further discussion. I undertake to put all proposals to the committee, and if agreed, to try to find someone to implement them. I do not undertake to do them all myself!

Here are some current members’ projects, and their recent status:

  • ASL - APL Statistics Library, which now has its own Management Team, as documented in Vector 7.1, and to be launched at the March 1991 meeting.
  • Membership Records System - would you believe that our membership records are kept in DBASE? An APL solution has been proposed, prompting much debate within the committee as to the suitability of APL for this purpose.
  • Software Library - how can we rescue it from its current state of chaos? (Apologies to those who have suffered through non-supply.) The workload had become too much, but a solution is in sight. Please watch this space for details of a relaunch in the next issue of Vector.
  • ISO Standards work - due to the withdrawal of DTI funding, the BAPLA now subsidises the BSI Principal Expert’s travel and accommodation at ISO/APL technical meetings.
  • Booklist / Book Library proposal - how can we organize and distribute APL literature and reviews to our members as a lending and reference library? (including our international members?). Ideas please.
  • Meeting Venue Change to IEE - an important component of a successful BAPLA meeting is a drink before or afterwards, and if needed, a good meal. I have undertaken to make an extensive review of all of the pubs in the vicinity, and preliminary results reveal that the nearest pub is in fact quite suitable. This is the New Savoy Tavern in Savoy St, and the upstairs bar has been tested and ratified under simulated BAPLA conditions (i.e. a meal at 1pm on a Friday and a drink at 5pm). See you there on February 8th.