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| APL2 > More information > IBM APL2 for OS/2 Entry Edition, Part Number 89G1556 Advanced Edition, Part Number 89G1697 Now Available - Service Level 19 Overview APL2 for OS/2, developed by the APL Products and Services Team at the IBM Silicon Valley Lab in San Jose, California, provides users of personal computers with a full-function APL2 environment for the OS/2 32-bit operating system. APL2 is a programming language useful to both application program developers and interactive end-users. Data processing professionals find APL2 to be a highly productive tool for developing both commercial and scientific applications. APL2 is also considered to be extremely effective in such diverse areas as "what-if" modeling, exploratory programming, interactive computing, decision support, and data analysis. APL2 for OS/2 is compatible with the rest of the APL2 family of products, which run on the IBM System/370 and System/390 with CMS or TSO, the IBM RISC System/6000 with AIX/6000, the Sun SPARCstation with Solaris, and personal computers with DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, or Windows 2000. All of the APL2 systems permit transparent import and export of programs and data via the ")IN" and ")OUT" commands, and so allow for a high degree of application portability. Highlights There are two APL2 products for OS/2 - the stand-alone Entry Edition, and the cooperative, professional user's Advanced Edition. The APL2 for OS/2 Entry Edition includes: Graphical User Interface - the session manager and APL editor exploit the GUI facilities of the OS/2 Presentation Manager, providing a CUA-compliant user interface. GUI Programming Interfaces - APL2 provides a visual dialog editor and access to window data as workspace objects. APL2 also includes an integrated low level interface to OS/2 Presentation Manager services. High-Level DDE Support - APL2 can share data with other applications such as spreadsheets and word processors using DDE. Multiple concurrent APL2 sessions - each APL2 session operates asynchronously in its own process, and can share data with other sessions on the same machine. Printer support - graphics and text, including text containing APL characters, can be sent to any OS/2-supported printer. Graphics facilities - APL2 for OS/2 provides the APL2 universal graphics processor and tools which are common with the other APL2 workstation systems. The GRAPHPAK workspace provided is compatible with versions offered on all of the APL2 platforms. Calls to other languages - APL2 programs can call, using name association, any program resident in a DLL which follows 32-bit system linkage conventions. Large workspaces - APL2 exploits the 32-bit OS/2 architecture, allowing workspaces up to 250 MB in size. Application development workspaces - example and utility workspaces are provided which can be used directly or modified for individual needs. On-line Documentation - The APL2 for OS/2 Users' Guide, a Language Summary and the GRAPHPAK User's Guide are provided in on-line form. On-line help is also provided for many facilities. The APL2 for OS/2 Advanced Edition includes: All the features of the Entry Edition Relational database access - auxiliary processor 127 provides an interface to IBM DB2 using the SQL language. On-line documentation is included. Tools for writing auxiliary processors - sample processors, include files, and a server interface allow for easy implementation of custom processors, including client-server processors. Performance monitor - the TIME workspace allows for analysis of APL2 programs to determine performance bottlenecks. Cooperative Processing - APL2 Advanced Edition provides the ability to distribute data and processing among multiple APL2 systems connected through TCP/IP. The APL2 systems on CMS, TSO, OS/2, Windows AIX/6000, and Sun Solaris all contain the following cooperative processing features: Cross-system shared variables for synchronization and data transfer in a distributed processing environment. A TCP/IP socket interface for communicating with non-APL applications. Program control of an APL2 session by another application or APL2 user. Remote session manager capability. Internet tools - NETTOOLS workspace and supporting utilities, including an HTTP 1.1 web server and client. System Services APL2 interfaces to system services are supplied as Associated Processors and Auxiliary Processors Associated processors provide a synchronous interface to services via the name association facility of the APL2 language. Auxiliary processors provide an asynchronous interface to services using the shared variable facility. Associated Processors included: P10 REXX Processor. Allows use of REXX functions as APL2 functions, manipulation of REXX programs as APL2 arrays, and easy access to operating system files. P11 Calls to External Routines. Allows an APL2 program to call routines residing outside the APL2 workspace. The called routine can be any program resident in a DLL that follows 32-bit system linkage conventions. A set of Processor 11 utility routines are supplied with the product. Documentation and sample files are also provided for writing your own external routines. P12 Files as Arrays. Allows manipulation of files with APL primitive functions and operators. Files can be operating system text files or APL files in the same format as those accessed with AP 210. Auxiliary Processors included: AP100 Host System Command processor. Supports the submission of host operating system commands from an APL2 application. AP101 Alternate Input (Stack) processor. Allows the creation of a stack of programmable input to APL2. AP119 TCP/IP Socket API. Passes requests to TCP/IP, which provides communication facilities across networks. (Advanced Edition Only) AP124 Text display processor. Provides application control of a text window. Demonstration and cover workspaces are included. AP127 SQL processor. Provides access to IBM relational database product DB2/2, including remote access to distributed databases, via the SQL structured query language. (Advanced Edition Only) AP145 OS/2 Services processor. Provides access to OS/2 services, including Presentation Manager and Control Program services. Demonstration and tool workspaces are included. AP207 High-level universal graphics processor. Allows generation of high-quality graphics, text, and images, using a simple command syntax. Demonstration workspace and GRAPHPAK workspace are included. AP210 File processor. Used to access OS/2 files. Text, binary, or APL-formatted objects are supported. AP211 APL2 Object Library. Provides a facility for storing APL2 arrays by name in an object file. Files created by AP 211 are directly portable across Windows, OS/2, AIX, Solaris, CMS and TSO. Files created by AP 211 under APL2/PC (DOS) can be read by APL2 on Windows, OS/2, AIX and Solaris. AP488 GPIB Support Processor. Allows access to external devices connected by a General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB). Interfaces to the National Instruments GPIB drivers. Technical Information Machine Requirements: APL2 for OS/2 is designed to run on any personal computer which will run OS/2. A math co-processor is recommended but not required. APL2 requires 2MB of memory and 12MB of hard disk above that required by OS/2. Memory and storage requirements of the user applications should also be considered. A machine configuration of at least 12MB of memory and 120MB of hard disk is recommended for optimum performance. Programming Requirements: This program is designed to run with OS/2 Version 2.0 Service Pak 1 and higher. Version 2.1 or higher is recommended. IBM DB2 1.0 or later is required for AP 127. IBM TCP/IP 2.0 or later is required for AP 119 and the cooperative processing facilities. Packaging: APL2 for OS/2 is supplied on 3 and 1/2 inch diskettes. An order form is included for 5 and 1/4 inch diskettes. Service: The latest service level is available from the APL2 Download page. Publications On-line copies of the following publications are included with APL2 for OS/2:
Title
APL2 User's Guide
APL2 Language Summary
APL2 GRAPHPAK: User's Guide and Reference
APL2 Programing: Using Structured Query Language
Printed copies of the following publications are included with APL2 for OS/2:
Title | Order Number
--- | ---
APL2 Family of Products | GH21-1090
APL2 for OS/2: User's Guide | SH21-1091
APL2 Programming: Language Reference | SH21-1061
APL2 Reference Summary | SX26-3999
APL2 at a Glance | SC26-4676
APL2 Keyboard Decals | SC33-0604
Two of the on-line publications are also available from IBM in printed form:
Title | Order Number
--- | ---
APL2 GRAPHPAK: User's Guide and Reference | SH21-1074
APL2 Programming: Using Structured Query Language | SH21-1057
Ordering To order APL2 for OS/2 Entry Edition (Part Number 89G1556) or Advanced Edition (Part Number 89G1697) see How to buy APL2. Additional Information For further information, contact APL Products and Services.