In any case, symbols were abandoned back in the day when everyone was still using 8-bit encodings. [1][2]
Nowadays you have e.g. Dyalog APL which does use APL symbols and you have short ascii-based sequences (easier to type than latex) for inputting them:
`u`y gives you ↓↑
[1] Remembering Ken Iverson (http://keiapl.org/rhui/)
> For the first few months, the special APL characters and the ASCII spelling co-existed in the system. It was Ken who first suggested that I should kill off the special APL characters. I myself resisted for a few weeks longer, until the situation became too confusing, for reasons described in J for the APL Programmer.
[2] J for the APL Programmer (https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/j4apl.htm)
> J uses the 7-bit ASCII alphabet. It also makes non-essential use of the box-drawing characters in the 8-bit ASCII alphabet for display. Using ASCII avoids the many problems associated with using APL symbols. It allows J to be used on a variety of machines without special hardware or software, and permits easy communication between J and other systems.