Rocket announces ICE

ICE from Rocket is a follow-on from IBM Info Center/Enhanced (IC/E),
with considerable enhancements compared with IBM ICE. It is a powerful
end-user system designed to let you:

Manipulate and query user data.
Write use-defined reports.
Define graphic output.
Define user-controlled data entry.
Define user-controlled data validation.
ICE allows you to make inquiries against a range of file types in the
Query System component, including large inverted files, and to produce
reports and business graphics in the Reporting System component.
ICE is an optional feature of Rocket Application System (AS) and
provides close links with APL2. It is an upgrade path for IC/E, IC/1,
ADRS and ADI users.

ICE is an excellent solution for applications which need to perform
fast queries on large volumes of data. And with AS Client Connections,
you can deliver the power of ICE to your PC.

The Query System

The Query System is designed to perform queries against ICE Query
System files. These files include:

ICE inverted Query files.
SQL/DS or DB2 tables.
DIF files.
ICE Transfer files.
ICE Application files (Reporting System store files).
APL variables created with the AS OUT (APL) command.
The result of each query is written to disk and displayed on the
user’s terminal. The user can then do any of the following:

Print the results to a destination specified in the nickname file
Perform another query
Use the TOAS or TORS command to move the data to AS, or to the
Reporting System, for further processing.
The Reporting System

Reporting System (RS) gives access to:

Report writer.
Data entry.
Data validation.
Business graphics.
and also to the following, if they have been incorporated into ICE:

Application Prototype Environment (APE).
Financial Planning System (FPS).
RS also gives access to the main ICE menu, and this gives access to
the following additional facilities:

AS
Query System
User profile
Line mode
Starter Set
Other applications
ICE and Rocket AS

ICE has been integrated as a feature of Rocket AS. It is accessed from
the Facilities menu in AS and also by command.

You can use ICE data in Rocket AS. ICE queries can be stored in AS as
Query System Command Tables and the results of a query can be used as
the current IN table. This provides seamless access to the many
facilities of Rocket AS, including:

Graphics
Reports
Project Management
Statistics
Linear Programming
Business Planning
APL and Rocket AS

You can pass information between Rocket AS and APL2, thus linking
applications in the two environments. Several utilities are available
from the USEAPL workplace in the *SAMP library.

The ability to manipulate arrays in APL2 can be used from within AS
procedures, or AS commands can be invoked from APL2 user-defined
functions. AS procedures can use APL2 matrices as an alternative to AS
data tables.

IBM releases Workstation APL2 Version 2 Service Level 15

(Reposted from comp.lang.apl. See discussion there.)

The IBM APL Products and Services group is pleased to announce Service Level 15 for Workstation APL2 for Multiplatforms Version 2.0. This new service level is available for all Workstation APL2 platforms including AIX, Linux, Sun Solaris, and Windows.

Along with fixes for customer reported problems, Service Level 15 contains the following enhancements:

All platforms:

Fill functions are implemented for each and outer product.

Identity functions are implemented for reduce.

New external function LEXP provides lexical parsing using the APL2 syntax rules.

New external function FDELETE deletes an operating system file. On Windows, the file is sent to the Recycle Bin.

Windows:

General enhancements to the Session Manager environment include preservation of color and font information as data is copied to the clipboard and a single global custom colors array for all APL2 windows.

Additions to the Object Editor's Edit menu are Paste File, Redo, Comment and Decomment.

Extensive changes have been made to allow easier debugging of APL2 applications. Highlights of these changes include a new Debug menu in the Session Manager window, a Stack window and Watch windows for variables and expressions.

Unicode characters can be assigned to keys using the APL2 Keyboard Properties dialog.

New external function IDIOMSG provides a GUI interface to the APL2 Idioms Library.

Service Level 15 is available through the Support option at the APL2 home page to customers with a Software Maintenance contract.

Further information on the new facilities will be found in the updated APL2 User's Guide and on-line help after installing the service. A complete list of fixes included in this level will be found in the updated README (Unix systems) or "Service Information" (Windows systems) file.

The Origins of APL - 1974

This is the Full 1 hour version: The Origins of APL - 1974

Just posted at Vector

Posted today:

Washington round-up APL2000 reports on its recent conference

Structured Storage and Monitor Expressions David Liebtag with news of APL2 Service Level 13

YouTube: Morten Kromberg's Unicode chessboard demonstration.

YouTube: John Schole's plea for simple tools