Editing APL (programming language) (section)

== Naming ==
APL derives its name from the initials of Iverson's book ''A Programming Language'',<ref name="aplbook"/> even though the book describes [[#Mathematical_notation|Iverson's mathematical notation]], rather than the implemented programming language described in this article. The name is used only for actual implementations, starting with [[#APL\360|APL\360]].

[[Adin Falkoff]] coined the name in 1966 during the implementation of APL\360 at [[IBM]]:

{{Blockquote|text=As I walked by the office the three students shared, I could hear sounds of an argument going on. I poked my head in the door, and Eric asked me, "Isn't it true that everyone knows the notation we're using is called APL?" I was sorry to have to disappoint him by confessing that I had never heard it called that. Where had he got the idea it was well known? And who had decided to call it that? In fact, why did it have to be called anything? Quite a while later I heard how it was named. When the implementation effort started in June of 1966, the documentation effort started, too. I suppose when they had to write about "it", Falkoff and Iverson realized that they would have to give "it" a name. There were probably many suggestions made at the time, but I have heard of only two. A group in SRA in Chicago which was developing instructional materials using the notation was in favor of the name "Mathlab". This did not catch on. Another suggestion was to call it "Iverson's Better Math" and then let people coin the appropriate acronym. This was deemed facetious.
<p>Then one day Adin Falkoff walked into Ken's office and wrote "A Programming Language" on the board, and underneath it the acronym "APL". Thus it was born. It was just a week or so after this that Eric Iverson asked me his question, at a time when the name hadn't yet found its way the thirteen miles up the Taconic Parkway from IBM Research to IBM Mohansic.</p>|author=[[Eugene McDonnell]]|source=<ref>McDonnell, E.E. The [https://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Doc/A_Source_Book_in_APL#origins introduction to ''A Source Book in APL''], APL Press, 1981. ([http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/apl/Papers/ASourceBookInAPL/view full book scan])</ref>}}

''APL'' is occasionally re-interpreted as ''Array Programming Language'' or ''Array Processing Language'',<ref>Acharya, R; Pereira, (904567457) 
N.E. [https://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs5314/Lang-Paper-Presentation/Papers/HoldPapers/APL.pdf#page=3 APL Programming Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103210435/https://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs5314/Lang-Paper-Presentation/Papers/HoldPapers/APL.pdf#page=3 |date=2021-11-03}}. Paper for CS5314 (Concepts of Programming Languages) at Virginia Tech.</ref> thereby making ''APL'' into a [[backronym]].