Garth H. Foster
ABSTRACT
The question posed in the title could be interpreted as being rhetorical so that its answer would provide a stage to suggest how control flow in user-defined APL functions could be improved. The last thing that APL needs is design by a large committee; there is ample evidence [1] that design by a relatively small group acting by Quaker consensus produces good results. The results have been so pleasing that we may have become myopic in our almost evangelical enthusiasm.
Perhaps the time is ripe to take a more critical view of APL in the spirit of constructive criticism. To avoid discussing the issues on the grounds that the Friends are still meeting may not be timely. The area of control flow in a program is one which: (1) continues to receive a great deal of attention in the literature; (2) has provided some sharp criticism of APL from computing professionals; and (3) has produced some variation in the APL community. Summarizing these three directions shall be our objective in the balance of this paper.
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Index Terms
- What lies beyond the branch arrow?
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