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โ Comments in APL are prefixed by โ.

โ A list of numbers. (ยฏ is negative)
2 3e7 ยฏ4 50.3

โ An expression, showing some functions. In APL, there's
โ no order of operations: everything is parsed right-to-
โ left. This is equal to 5 + (4 ร— (2 รท (5 - 3))) = 9:
5 + 4 ร— 2 รท 5 - 3        โ 9

โ These functions work on lists, too:
1 2 3 4 ร— 5              โ 5 10 15 20
1 2 3 4 ร— 5 6 7 8        โ 5 12 21 32

โ All functions have single-argument and dual-argument
โ meanings. For example, "ร—" applied to two arguments
โ means multiply, but when applied to only a right-hand
โ side, it returns the sign:

ร— ยฏ4 ยฏ2 0 2 4            โ ยฏ1 ยฏ1 0 1 1

โ Values can be compared using these operators (1 means
โ "true", 0 means "false"):

10 20 30 = 10 20 99      โ 1 1 0

10 20 30 < 10 20 99      โ 0 0 1

โ "โณn" returns a vector containing the first n naturals.
โ Matrices can be constructed using โด (reshape):
4 3 โด โณ5                 โ 0 1 2
                         โ 3 4 0
                         โ 1 2 3
                         โ 4 0 1

โ Single-argument โด gives you the dimensions back:
โด 4 3 โด โณ5               โ 4 3

โ Values can be stored using โ†. Let's calculate the mean
โ value of a vector of numbers:
A โ† 10 60 55 23

โ Sum of elements of A (/ is reduce):
+/A                      โ 148

โ Length of A:
โดA                       โ 4

โ Mean:
(+/A) รท (โดA)             โ 37

โ We can define this as a function using {} and โต:
mean โ† {(+/โต)รทโดโต}
mean A                   โ 37

Further Reading


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Originally contributed by nooodl, and updated by 4 contributors.