Introduction to APL

Welcome to the wonderful world of APL. Whether you've never done programming before or you're a journeyman programmer, APL is going to be something new to you.

APL works like no other programming language. First, APL operates from right to left. All other programming languages operate from left to right. So, for example, if you have the following mathematical expression

4 × 5 - 10

Your typical programming language would compute it as 4×5 which is (20), then 20 - 10, resulting in 10. APL will compute it as 5-10 (-5) * 4, or -20. You can adjust this by placing arguments within parenthesis. If your expression was written as

(4 × 5) / 10

It would produce the same answer no matter what programming language you use.