APL in GSM

The migration to APL for instruction occurred in 1971 when a new curriculum was introduced into GSM. APL was taught in a mini-course format of two weeks of concentrated full-time activity. It was developed by Dr, Ephraim McLean who came to GSM in 1970 from MIT. (He subsequently left UCLA in 1987 and is now Regent's Professor and George E. Smith Eminent Scholar's Chair in Information Systems, Department of Computer Information Systems, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University.)

The Computer and Information Systems (CIS) faculty at GSM wanted to move introductory computer instruction to an interactive language. I am a bit hazy on this, but I think the faculty preference was for BASIC. However, OAC chose APL, probably because its Director, Professor C.B. Tompkins, was a mathematician and he claimed that OAC could not support both languages. (Note that APL has vanished but that BASIC is still around in the form of VISUAL BASIC.)

The use of APL spread to faculty outside the formal instructional laboratory. It permeated courses in information systems, computer systems, statistics, operations research, simulation, finance, marketing and a business game. Although these were diverse areas, there was a common thread to the APL activity. This was as an aid or a tool for improved decision making through model building. The first year nucleus of the curriculum emphasized individual decision making, managerial decision making and a management game that was decision oriented. It was only natural that this same theme would find its way into later courses of study.

A library of APL routines for interactive decision making was developed that included: