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. We strongly recommend installing with administrator privileges.
- Starting Dyalog will launch the Dyalog for Microsoft Windows IDE.
- Download the installer and double click the .pkg file.
- Starting Dyalog will launch Ride as the UI.
- 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
- DEB-based:
- Starting Dyalog will launch a TTY text-based interface
- Download the Dyalog Ride installer
- DEB-based:
sudo dpkg --install ride*.deb - RPM-based:
sudo rpm --install ride*.rpm
- DEB-based:
- Starting Dyalog with launch Ride as the UI
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-unicodeIf you chose to install Ride, starting Dyalog will launch Ride as the UI.
If you did not chose to install Ride, starting Dyalog will launch a TTY text-based interface.
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
Video: Overview of Dyalog Ride (Remote IDE for Dyalog)
Create, Trace, Edit, and Continue
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
⎕OFF or, click ✖ in the top-right corner, to exit Dyalog. Resume your work
]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. 
