Character Set
APL has always been criticized for its choice of a unique, non-standard character set. Some who learn it become ardent adherents, suggesting that there is some weight behind Iverson's idea that the notation used does make a difference. In the beginning, there were few terminal devices that could reproduce the APL character set—the most popular ones employing the IBM Selectric print mechanism along with a special APL type element. Over time, with the universal use of high-quality graphic display, printing devices and Unicode support, the APL character font problem has largely been eliminated; however, the problem of entering APL characters requires the use of input method editors or special keyboard mappings, which may frustrate beginners accustomed to other programming languages.
Read more about this topic: APL (programming Language)
Famous quotes containing the words character and/or set:
“We imagined that the sun shining on their bare heads had stamped a liberal and public character on their most private thoughts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Genghis Khan, in his usual jodhpurs accessorized with whip, straddled a canvas chair and gloated upon the fairyland he had built. Journalists, photographers, secretaries, sycophants, script girls, and set dressers milled and stirred around him, activity ... irresistibly reminiscent of the movement of maggots upon rotting meat.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)