[1] Shared Variables could be used to control peripheral devices, or to communicate with external files, database management systems, or other users.
Many of the Shared Variable Processors available for IBM products were also written for Sharp APL, notably TSIO (called PJAM), AP124, AP126, and AP127.
APL was first available on Intel 8008, 8080, and Zilog Z80 based hardware, later the original IBM PC, and as of 2015, on the 32- and 64-bit Linux and Windows workstations.
[citation needed] Nearly all other APL vendors chose to implement new functions, such as access to Linux and Windows native features, graphical user interfaces, presentation graphics, database management system interfaces, and so on, more directly in their respective versions of the APL language.
[citation needed] In modern non-IBM APL implementations, the Shared Variable interface has been largely supplanted by Component Object Model (COM), ActiveX, and .NET Framework.