When I was a young lad, the ink on my EE degree still wet, I worked with an older gentleman with a PhD, who used APL on an exotic computer with what looked to me like Sanskrit symbols (or space alien, for all I knew) on the keys. He gave me a couple tutorials but I never could wrap my brain around it. I lost interest and hadn't heard anything about APL for decades until now.

I am curious how the symbols used in the language are mapped onto a standard keyboard. Also, does anyone use APL in battle or is it mostly an academic toy?