Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI investigated APL pretty seriously at the end of 2019, after a very inspiring conversation with Aaron. I discovered that everything in this post is true, and (dyalog) APL is a pretty great language. However, I also decided that it is still a bit too dead, at least for me. Specifically, it does not work well with other programs, at least on *nix. This is reflected not only in the lack of external libraries, but even in some basic areas…
Conor Hoekstra's code_report[0] YouTube channel is a great way to learn about APL. The "1 problem N languages" series of videos are especially good. [0] https://www.youtube.com/c/codereport/featured
Why, when was it particularly alive (at least since the 90s)? It's a niche language, it's main allure being it's used in a handful of specific apps.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 225
- Total comments
- 169
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-05-02 | Is APL Dead? Not anymoreFirst breakout · Best thread | lelf | 127 | 77 |
| 2021-10-20 | APL in its modern state (2020)Latest 20+ point return | akbarnama | 95 | 90 |
| 2023-05-04 | Is APL Dead? (2020) | walterbell | 3 | 2 |