What these all have in common is that the computer wasn't that clever (yet) compared to humans, so it was worth learning a cryptic but efficient (in terms of code size, or execution speed) language. Or maybe these "line noise" languages were just fashionable.
Now, JIT-ing something eminently readable is essentially free, so there is no more point in these old things (I don't personally use Matlab, but all the theory people at work do, and it seems to be the spiritual successor to APL).
What these all have in common is that the computer wasn't that clever (yet) compared to humans, so it was worth learning a cryptic but efficient (in terms of code size, or execution speed) language. Or maybe these "line noise" languages were just fashionable.
Now, JIT-ing something eminently readable is essentially free, so there is no more point in these old things (I don't personally use Matlab, but all the theory people at work do, and it seems to be the spiritual successor to APL).