The Education Vector

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 23

The Education Vector¶

July 1992

Editor Alan Mayer

This Education Vector has been reprinted from VECTOR Vol.9 No.1. VECTOR is the Quarterly Journal of the British APL Association. For more information about the British APL Association, please contact: Anthony Camacho, [address and telephone number omitted].

Contents¶

Dr. Alan Mayer
European Business Management School
University College of Swansea
Singleton Park
Swansea SA2 8PP Wales, UK

Ysgol Rheolaeth Busnes Ewropeaidd
Parc Singleton,
Abertawe SA2 8PP

Tel: 0792-205678 Ext.4274 Fax: 0792-295626 JANET: MAYER@UK.AC.SWAN.MS

Editorial¶

by Alan Mayer

Welcome to the “APL92” edition of Education Vector. The British APL Association Journal Vector (of which Education Vector forms a small part) will be available at the APL 92 Conference at St. Petersburg in July. We wish our hosts well, in what may be regarded as the most truly international gathering the world APL community has ever experienced.

If you are not one of the lucky ones who will be attending APL92, you may like to know that you can get your own copy of Vector by becoming a member of the British APL Association. Write to Rowena Small, [address omitted] — the subscription is £12 per annum, for which you get four editions of Vector (144 pages each) and notice of meetings of the Association. Also, if you know of anyone who would like a (free) subscription to Education Vector, please send me his or her name and address.

My thanks to those who have responded to my request for functions. I have included a selection in this edition: some games from W.W. McLean, and some mathematical functions from C.E. Williams. Also thanks to Alain Delmotte, of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN in Rome, for his programs to list the contents of I-APL workspaces. Together, the contributions make a good mixture of entertainment, application and utility — but if we are missing out something, write and tell me about it (preferably enclosing a contribution!).

I am currently assembling APL material suitable for use in schools. Later in the year I will be offering an APL interpreter and sample educational material, free of charge to any school that would like to try introducing it into their curriculum. Schools that have already tried APL have found it useful in a variety of areas, and I want to give as many young people as possible the opportunity of experiencing the power and flexibility of the language.

I look to readers of Education Vector (members and non-members alike) for help in this work. First, if you are involved in education and have used APL, tell me about your experiences, and if you have developed programs you are willing to share, let me see them. Second, bring this initiative to the attention of teachers who may like to take part — if they drop me a line, I will make sure they receive the material. Third, let me know what sort of material you think should be developed for this purpose. Fourth, if you are willing to spare some time and share your own expertise, this may be invaluable to schools in your area — sometimes the availability of a person with some experience of the language can save a great deal of time, particularly when the system is first introduced. If you are interested in helping in this way, please let me know.

A meeting will be arranged later in the year for anyone interested in discussing these ideas. Birmingham has been suggested as a possible venue, but I am open to suggestions of alternatives.