The VisualAPL IDE:
Prior to VisualAPL, the IDE (interactive development environment) for APL programmers has been a proprietary model unique to APL. During the time this proprietary APL IDE has remained virtually static, dramatic changes and enhancements have occurred in the mainstream programming environment.
VisualAPL is integrated with the mainstream Microsoft Visual Studio IDE used by millions of Windows programmers worldwide. Learning this new-to-APL IDE is a minor challenge for traditional APL programmers, but the rewards for doing so are great, including:
- Superior programming tools and features
Interoperability of VisualAPL with any .Net language
Immediate access to the latest Microsoft enhancements to .Net and Windows
Many additional application system deployment options
Access to multi-threaded system design
Ability to use and control multi-core, multi-processor hardware
Fully Unicode-based, non-proprietary source code
Optional strong data typing for enhanced performance
Access to garguantuan memory spaces when 64-bit hardware is employed
"Program once, use anywhere" efficiency because of .Net interoperability
Secure, managed code which is often required by corporate customers and end-users
Compiled VisualAPL code requires no delivery of a proprietary APL interpreter to the end user
.Net Application System Development Methods:
After learning about the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE, the methdology of .Net application system design also needs to be studied.
The methdology of .Net application system design is based on object-oriented principles using encapsulated .Net class components, possibly built with multiple programming languages based on their special benefits, with purposeful separation of GUI (graphical user interface), business rules and data elements all connected by .Net interfaces.
This is in contrast to the traditional APL design in which the entire application system was built using one language, with proprietary GUI controls, a mixture of GUI (graphical user interface), calculations and data, contained in a proprietary workspace format, with limited deployment options requiring that a proprietary APL interpreter be delivered to the end user.
With the .Net programming model, the APL "domain expert" is now free to concentrate on building the application system's calculations, business rules and algorithms within a VisualAPL class library which is inherently usable by the other components of the application system, even if they were build using any other .Net language. The other components ("layers") of the .Net application system, e.g. GUI, data access and interfaces, can be developed on their own time-line and by experts in those aspects of system design. Deployment of a .Net application is unrestricted, providing local install, 1-click install a publication server and client/server models on the Windows as well as the Unix operating system platforms.
VisualAPL Secret Weapons for Building .Net Application Systems:
VisualAPL includes some terrific features which give a significant advantage to a .Net programmer using VisualAPL:
- The Cielo Explorer for an immediate-mode, interactive session - see http://forum.apl2000.com/viewtopic.php?t=414
VisualAPL is a functional programming language - see: http://forum.apl2000.com/posting.php
VisualAPL is an array-based language
VisualAPL is ideal for programming of complex algorithms
VisualAPL uses dynamic data typing and, where desirable, strong data typing
VisualAPL implements the "application-shared datastore"