Some mathematical proofs contain lots of "english prose", but not in fields that have nailed down the semantics; and no field that did even goes back to prose.
mathematical notation is not automatically suitable for programming in general, but is not automatically unsuitable.
APL was devised as a notation for algorithms, not for general math; Iverson noticed that at the time (1950s), everyone was inventing their own algorithm specification when give mathematical proof, and tried to unify that. And since it was well enough specified, someone later wrote an interpreter, and that's how APL came to be more than notation. I urge everyone to read Iverson's "notation as a tool of thought".
> Best tool for the job et al.
Best tool depends on context. No programming language is the best tool if the person reading/writing/mainting it does not know the basics of how to program.
APL is suitable for programming in general for people who take the time to learn it, and is often the best tool for the job, as long as the context is "to be read/maintained by other people who know APL". IMHO, this is an unfortunately rare context.
No software development in any language should be undertaken by people who don't understand the language and surrounding tooling and libraries. No program in any language should be written with the expectation that it can be maintained by people who don't know the language. This is not some APL predicament.
mathematical notation is not automatically suitable for programming in general, but is not automatically unsuitable.
APL was devised as a notation for algorithms, not for general math; Iverson noticed that at the time (1950s), everyone was inventing their own algorithm specification when give mathematical proof, and tried to unify that. And since it was well enough specified, someone later wrote an interpreter, and that's how APL came to be more than notation. I urge everyone to read Iverson's "notation as a tool of thought".
> Best tool for the job et al.
Best tool depends on context. No programming language is the best tool if the person reading/writing/mainting it does not know the basics of how to program.
APL is suitable for programming in general for people who take the time to learn it, and is often the best tool for the job, as long as the context is "to be read/maintained by other people who know APL". IMHO, this is an unfortunately rare context.