



          This is APL\11, an APL interpreter for the UNIX operating 
          system.  The interpreter is written in C and the source code
          is freely available.  The code is reasonably portable, sub-
          ject to several restrictions including interchangeable 
          pointers and ints.  Portability is discussed in more detail 
          in the manual included with this distribution.  
          
          APL\11 has a relatively long history.  The original program 
          was written by Ken Thompson at Bell Laboratories, apparently
          in the days before Version 6 UNIX.  That version of the 
          interpreter was extensively modified at Purdue University, 
          and has been included on the Berkeley distribution tapes 
          subject to the requirement that you have a UNIX source 
          license.  
          
          Early in '92, I acquired a 386sx, a copy of Linus Torvalds' 
          linux, and a copy of Bellcore's MGR windowing software.  A 
          little voice in the back of my head said "This multitasking 
          virtual-memory windowed system is nice, and if it had APL it
          would be just about perfect!"  There's no accounting for 
          taste.  After asking USENET, it was apparent that no other 
          source-code available APL interpreters for UNIX had been 
          written.  I had a legal copy of the APL\11 source which had 
          followed me from Bell Labs to Bellcore and on to U S WEST.  
          
          After a lot of nagging, AT&T licensed the source code to 
          U S WEST, including the right to sublicense it without the 
          old UNIX source license requirement (big companies don't 
          seem to understand "just give it away").  I've cleaned it 
          up, fixed several errors, written some new documentation, 
          reformatted a lot of the old Purdue documentation, and added
          a little additional functionality.  It's available for 
          general use.  
          
          I plan to provide support for the interpreter as my personal
          time and interests permit (somewhere after wife, kids, house
          maintenance and building a new piano bench).  The normal 
          distribution channel will be the ftp archive at wat-
          serv1.waterloo.edu.  If you are actively using APL\11, send 
          me a note.  E-mail should be sent to mcain@adv-
          tech.uswest.com.  Bug reports are welcome, although I can't 
          promise how soon they'll get fixed.  Patches that fix bugs 
          are even more welcome, and will get more prompt attention.  
          
          Enjoy!  
          
          
          Michael Cain
          4001 Discovery Drive
          U S WEST Advanced Technologies
          Boulder, CO  80303
          303-541-6225
          mcain@advtech.uswest.com
