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Installing Dyalog

This part will cover

  • Setting up Dyalog APL on your computer
  • Installing Dyalog RIDE

We promised in the beginning of the course that you would get to learn APL: A Programming Language. Now, we finally get to the "Programming" part! In this chapter, we will install the Dyalog APL interpreter and Dyalog's cross-platform IDE to write larger, more organized programs.

Dyalog is an implementation of APL, while RIDE is an IDE that gives you a nice-looking interface to edit and run APL code. By the end of the tutorial, you will be able to run RIDE, which looks something like this:

A picture of Dyalog RIDE

Choose your warrior

This part is split up into different sections based on your operating system. Choose the one that you're using:

  • Ubuntu / Debian
  • Nix / NixOS
  • Arch
  • Windows
  • macOS

Ubuntu / Debian

First, let's install Dyalog:

  1. Visit the Dyalog downloads page https://www.dyalog.com/download-zone.htm
  2. Accept the conditions for a free license to use Dyalog
  3. Click on Download Unregistered to download Dyalog without registering
    • You may of course choose to register your license. This will have no effect on the installation process.
  4. Click on the for Linux (DEB) download link
    • This will download a .deb software package
  5. Open a terminal
  6. Navigate to your downloaded file
    • In most cases this is done with cd Downloads
  7. Run sudo apt update
  8. Run sudo apt install ./filename
    • Replace filename with the name of the downloaded .deb file

Then, let's install RIDE:

  1. Visit the RIDE releases page https://github.com/Dyalog/ride/releases/latest
  2. Download the package that ends with amd64.deb
    • If you have a Raspberry Pi or ARM-based device, download the aarch64.deb or armhf.deb version.
  3. Open a terminal
  4. Navigate to your downloaded file
  5. Run sudo apt update
  6. Run sudo apt install ./filename
    • Again, replace filename with the name of the downloaded .deb file

Now, you can start RIDE by searching for RIDE in your program menu. That's it!

Nix / NixOS

Add the following lines to your NixOS config:

packages = with pkgs; [
    (dyalog.override {acceptLicense = true;})
    ride
];

If you are using HomeManager, replace packages with home.packages. The override is required, as Nix will not let you install Dyalog without accepting their 3rd-party license.

If for whatever reason Dyalog fails to install, try replacing the above configuration with this:

packages = with pkgs; [
    ((dyalog.override {acceptLicense = true;}).overrideAttrs (old: {
        src = fetchurl {
        url = "https://download.dyalog.com/download.php?file=19.0/linux_64_19.0.50027_unicode.x86_64.deb";
        hash = "sha256-3uB102Hr0dmqAZj2ezLhsAdBotY24PWJfE7g5wSmKMA=";
        };
    }))
    ride
];

Then, rebuild as usual and you should be done! You can launch Dyalog RIDE by searching for RIDE in your program menu, or by typing ride in the terminal.

Arch

There are community packages that install RIDE on the Arch User Repository, for example ride-bin, these installations are not verified by Dyalog.

Manual instructions were however provided on Stack Exchange https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66729267/how-to-get-dyalog-apl-on-arch.

Windows

First, let's install Dyalog:

  1. Visit the Dyalog downloads page https://www.dyalog.com/download-zone.htm
  2. Accept the conditions for a free license to use Dyalog
  3. Click on Download Unregistered to download Dyalog without registering
    • You may of course choose to register your license. This will have no effect on the installation process
  4. Click on the for Windows download link
    • This will download a .zip file
  5. Navigate to your downloaded file
  6. Extract the downloaded file
  7. Run setup.exe in the extracted folder
  8. If prompted, restart the installer with administrator privileges
  9. To proceed with a default installation, keep the settings the way they are and click Default install
    • If you would not want APL Keyboard IMEs, make sure to uncheck the option
  10. Accept the terms and proceed with the installation
  11. Press Finish
  12. If prompted, restart your computer

Then, let's install RIDE:

  1. Visit the RIDE releases page https://github.com/Dyalog/ride/releases/latest
  2. Download the file that ends with windows.zip
    • This will download a .zip file
  3. Navigate to your downloaded file
  4. Extract the downloaded file
  5. Run setup_ride.exe in the extracted folder
  6. If prompted, restart the installer with administrator privileges
  7. To proceed with a default installation, keep the settings the way they are and click Default install
  8. Press Finish

Now, you can start Dyalog RIDE by searching for RIDE in the start menu. That's it!

macOS

First, determine whether your device uses an ARM or Intel processor.

  1. Click on the Apple logo in the top right of your screen
  2. Click on About This Mac
    • If there is a Chip label, then your device uses an ARM processor
    • If there is a Processorlabel, then your device uses an Intel processor

Then, let's install RIDE.

  1. Visit the Dyalog downloads page https://www.dyalog.com/download-zone.htm
  2. Accept the conditions for a free license to use Dyalog
  3. Click on Download Unregistered to download Dyalog without registering
    • You may of course choose to register your license. This will have no effect on the installation process
  4. Click on the for macOS download link corresponding to your processor
    • This will download a .pkg package file
  5. Run the downloaded file and follow the instructions given by the installer

Now, you can start Dyalog RIDE by searching for Dyalog in spotlight. That's it!