|
APL/S - The Computational Language |
As the saying goes, a computer is only as good as its
programming language. Back in the early days of
computing, most systems offered either some form of Assembly
language (quick and powerful, but low level and difficult to
understand) or BASIC (slow, but high level and easy to
use). VideoBrain on the other hand decided to go with
the obscure APL programming language.
APL/S stands for A Programming Language and the /S stands
for Subset as APL/S was a subset of the APL language.
APL was odd choice for the VideoBrain as it was a math
oriented language based on arrays used mostly by
scientists. Sources say that it was chosen due to it
having 'better programming structures and a higher degree of
productivity'. While this may be technically true, most
VB owners would have been overwhelmed by the difficult to
understand syntax of APL making it a poor choice for a entry
level home computer. Due to the complexity of
implementing a programming language on a low memory system
like the VideoBrain (remember the system only had 1K of RAM),
the APL/S cartridge was 13K in size and had 1K extra RAM and
had a $150 price tag. The VideoBrain version of APL also
used ASCII strings instead of special APL symbols.
The existence of APL/S has been speculated for years. More than one person has claimed to own the cartridge back in the day and it was mentioned in several advertisements, but no actual APL/S cartridge has ever been found. However in 2021 the first evidence of APL/S's existence turned up in the form of a manual in an eBay auction. Unfortunately the cartridge and box were nowhere to be seen. This all changed in 2023 when a complete copy of APL/S was finally located.
Only 91 APL/S cartridges were ever made making it the rarest
non-prototype VB cartridge. APL/S was manufactured from
1-24-79 to 3-20-79, also making it the last VB cartridge to be
made.
