Language Design
PDL is a vectorized array programming language: the expression syntax is a variation on standard mathematical vector notation, so that the user can combine and operate on large arrays with simple expressions. In this respect, PDL follows in the footsteps of the APL programming language, and it has been compared to commercial languages such as MATLAB and Interactive Data Language, and to other free languages such as NumPy and Octave. Unlike MATLAB and IDL, PDL allows great flexibility in indexing and vectorization: for example, if a subroutine normally operates on a 2-D matrix array, passing it a 3-D data cube will generally cause the same operation to happen to each 2-D layer of the cube.
PDL borrows from Perl at least three basic types of program structure: imperative programming, functional programming, and pipeline programming forms may be combined. Subroutines may be loaded either via a built-in autoload mechanism or via the usual Perl module mechanism. PDL-like functionality is being included in the development of Perl 6.
Read more about this topic: Perl Data Language
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