TITLE: Honest Answers: Learning APL
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 22, 2013  9:17 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
After eighteen printed pages showing the wonders of APL in
<A HREF="http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10011550">
   A Glimpse of Heaven</A>,
Bernard Legrand encourages programmers to give the language a
serious look.  But he cautions APL enthusiasts not to oversell
the ease of learning the language:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Beyond knowledge of the basic elements, correct APL usage assumes
knowledge of methods for organising data, and ways specific to
APL, of solving problems.  That cannot be learnt in a hurry, in
APL or any other language.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Legrand is generous in saying that learning APL takes the same
amount of time as learning any other language.  In my experience,
both as a learning of language and as a teacher of programmers,
languages and programming styles that are quite different from
one's experience take longer than more familiar topics.  APL is
one of those languages that requires us to develop entirely new
ways of thinking about data and process, so it will take most
people longer to learn than yet another C-style imperative
language or OO knock-off.

But don't be impatient.  Wanting to move too quickly is
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2013-01.html#e2013-01-04T17_54_24.htm">
   a barrier to learning</A>
and performing at all scales, and too often leads us to give up
too soon.  If you give up on APL too soon, or on functional
programming, or OOP, you will never get to glimpse the heaven
that experienced programmers see.
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