Attached processors in APL
Karl Soop · ACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad · 1983
An extension to the semantics of APL is proposed. It allows one APL Processor ( APLP ) to attach another processor, which may be an ( APLP ) with its own workspace, or some other processor. A special case is signon from a terminal, where the attaching processor becomes a human user acting through a workstation. Attached processors communicate through shared variables, and the impact on the APL syntax is minimal. The mechanism has the potential to allow, for example, session managers, editors, and event—handling support to be implemented In a natural way through conventional APL programming. Such facilities will therefore enjoy an entirely new flexibility and open-endedness, not seen in comparative proposals, which usually depend for their realisation on new APL lansguage constructs.