Dyalog Quick Start Guide
The following instructions should enable you to get started with a basic workflow in the Dyalog development environment.
Download the installer, extract the contents, and double-click on setup*.exe.
NOTE: We strongly recommend installing with administrator privileges.
More information: Dyalog for Microsoft Windows Installation and Configuration Guide
Starting Dyalog will launch the Dyalog for Microsoft Windows IDE.
More information: Dyalog for Microsoft Windows UI Guide
Download the installer and double click the .pkg file.
More information: Dyalog for macOS Installation and Configuration Guide (PDF)
Starting Dyalog will launch Ride as the UI.
More information: Ride User Guide
Download the interpreter installer
Some desktop environments allow you to double click on the installer, otherwise:
- DEB-based:
sudo dpkg --install linux_64*.deb - RPM-based:
sudo rpm --install linux_64*.rpm
Starting Dyalog will launch a TTY text-based interface.
More information: Dyalog for Unix UI Guide
Optionally, download the Ride installer
- DEB-based:
sudo dpkg --install ride*.deb - RPM-based:
sudo rpm --install ride*.rpm
More information: Dyalog for Unix Installation and Configuration Guide
Starting Dyalog will launch Ride as the UI.
More information: Ride User Guide
This applies to 32-bit Dyalog on a 32-bit Raspberry Pi. For 64-bit Dyalog on a 64-bit Raspberry Pi, see the Linux installation instructions.
wget -O - https://packages.dyalog.com/dyalog-apt-key.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
CODENAME=$(lsb_release -sc)
echo "deb https://packages.dyalog.com ${CODENAME} main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dyalog.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dyalog-unicodeMore information: Dyalog APT Repository (website)
If you chose to install Ride, starting Dyalog will launch Ride as the UI.
More information: Ride User Guide
If you did not chose to install Ride, starting Dyalog will launch a TTY text-based interface.
More information: Dyalog for Raspberry Pi User Guide
Using Dyalog
The following information describes the basics of writing code and saving your work. For a more detailed walkthrough of installing Dyalog and beginning to use the development environments, see Chapter 2 of Mastering Dyalog APL.
Interactive Session (REPL)
When you start Dyalog, you are presented with a blank area with a text cursor. This is the Session window. From here you can interact with the interpreter. Type APL expressions (usually indented by 6 spaces) and press Enter to see their results:
2 + 3
5
Video: Overview of the Dyalog IDE for Microsoft Windows
XXX Couple of lines explaining what the Dyalog IDE is.
Video: Overview of Dyalog Ride (Remote IDE for Dyalog)
XXX Couple of lines explaining what Dyalog RIDE is.
Create, Trace, Edit, and Continue
Type the name of your function and press Shift+Enter.
You can now write the function’s definition. See the Mastering Dyalog APL chapter on User-defined Functions for details.
Pressing Esc will close the editor and save your changes in the currently active workspace.
Use Ctrl+Enter to trace through the function line-by-line.
Video: Editing and Debugging Dyalog APL
Video: Useful (Keyboard) Shortcuts in the Dyalog IDE
Save Your Work
Choose a directory in which to save your work:
]LINK.Create # /tmp/MyProject
Linked: # ←→ C:\tmp\MyProject [directory was created]
Whenever you make a change using the Editor (after closing it with Esc), a file will be created or updated in that directory.
Note that:
- variables and dfns defined using the assignment arrow in the session are not saved to a linked folder by default. Use
]LINK.Add mythingto save the source formythingwith your code. - tacit functions cannot be saved as text source, they must be wrapped in a tradfn or dfn.
Video: Introduction to APL Namespaces
Learn what # means in this video introduction to namespaces.
Quit Dyalog
Use ⎕OFF or, click ✖ in the top-right corner, to exit Dyalog.
Resume Your Work
When you next start Dyalog, your can scroll up in the session log to see your previous input and output.
Use ]LINK.Create # /tmp/MyProject again (you can click on the line from before and press Enter) to resume working on the code you saved earlier.
