AF6AY wrote:
From: (Doug White) on Sun, Dec 2 2007 6:22 pm
MARTHA is NOT for everyone. It doesn't have fancy schematic capture or
PCB layout features. It also requires learning at least a little about
the APL computer language (which could be considered a worthwhile
exercise in its own right). There is no canned installation routine that
will magically get it all up & running on your computer, but there are
procedures & batch files to try to make it as painless as possible.
That's interesting that the 35-year-old A Programming Language (APL)
is still around somewhere. I learned of it way back when in '72 while
employed by RCA Corporation...and getting interested in programming
after a very satisfactory and productive introduction to 'LECAP,'
RCA's
frequency-domain version of the original ECAP from IBM.
However, today's desktop PCs have MORE speed, mass memory, RAM storage
than any mainframe computer of 35 years ago at less than $1K US new
off-the-shelf (today's Fry's Electronics ad had a PC with LCD monitor
for $400). We don't really need Interpreter-based high-level
languages now.
I guess the guys that program in perl, javascript, python, lisp, and apl,
among many many others, should just quit? ;-)
....
Three decades ago the UC Berkeley group came up with SPICE and made
the core of that program FREE, no restrictions (source code available
for the cost of paper reproduction and mailing). SPICE derivatives
are the electronics industry standard today.
Spice is an interpreter.
....
I don't mean to diminish any importance of programming languages
or any different CADs or CAEs, but, let's face it, APL is an old
high-level language.
Unix is an old operating system, yet it still seems to get a whole
lot of use. APL is the ultimate programmable calculator. It is a
beautiful language that can do beautiful things in a very succinct
manner.
Perhaps if you actually had used it, you might think more of APL.
-Chuck