The glue that melds Applixware Office's features together into coherent applications is an object-oriented macro programming language called ELF (Extension Language Facility).

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Chalk it up to colonial ties, plus English-language facility that has permitted access to more labor markets, especially at higher income levels that can support bringing an extended family along.

FORBES: 5+ Million Chinese Abroad--But India's Got More

Just as their poorest countrymen have continued to leave family and familiarity behind to labor in spots like the Arab Gulf, so, too, may a new cohort of the best and brightest look to international business centers, especially where their English-language facility gives them an edge.

FORBES: Side Lines

On the other hand, I had an early facility with language, but it was my complete hopelessness with arithmetic that was the single dominant experience of my young life.

NPR: Living With an Inability to Do Math

Hebrew lessons typically start several years, not several months, before your 13th birthday, and since I had no facility for language in the first place, it was only a couple of weeks before my teachers deemed me hopeless and, instead of teaching me Hebrew, had me performing maintenance chores, such as cleaning the school's blackboards.

WSJ: Passover Challenged

They soon learned to browse the Web in English, even though they lacked facility in the language.

CNN: What if students learn faster without teachers?

Over the last few months, one skill has been brought up with increasing frequency: a facility with the language of business, and, in particular, finance.

FORBES: Successful Chief Information Officers Speak the Language of Business: Finance