Talk: 14:15-15:00 (English)
The Way of APL
Understanding the Array Programming Paradigm
While early Von Neumann style programming gave way to Structured Imperative Programming, which in turn evolved into Functional and OOP programming paradigms that are currently very popular, another programming paradigm was maturing and developing: the array programming paradigm. This deeply misunderstood programming model receives equal parts derision and wonder, while remaining largely under-appreciated and under-utilized, despite numerous success stories as well as research and evidence to back up its sometimes miraculous claims. Modern computer designs and our need for better methods for dealing with the needs of rigor, correctness, performance, and scale warrants a deeper look into the subtleties that are embedded in the quintessential array programming language, APL.
Aaron W. Hsu
I’m a passionate computing artist with over a decade of experience in Scheme before I began to explore the wider application of array languages to HCI/d, parallel programming, human/computer performance, and human to human communication. My main project these days is the Co-dfns compiler, which is a high-performance, parallel APL compiler that is itself implemented in Co-dfns using a purely data-parallel compiler construction technique that avoids branching, recursion, or explicit control structures such as looping. Instead, the entire compiler is a data-flow program constructed through array programming and function composition in the simplest manner imaginable.