AppleWriter was interesting as it had its own built-in language, WPL, a macro language that could do a chunk more (https://archive.org/details/wpl-manual/mode/2up). That was not the sort of feature expected given the inherent limitations of an 8-bit machine.
Yes, WPL was the most amazing feature of Apple Writer. It reminded me of programming a scientific calculator, but with text rather than numbers. When AppleWorks came out, I was really disappointed that it didn't include anything like it (this was alleviated a few years later with 3rd party macro packages).
The first program I sold for actual money, back when I was in high school, was a set of WPL programs that allowed teachers to generate exams by picking multiple-choice questions at random from a master file. The answers were also randomly permuted. It also produced the answer key for each. The idea was that teachers would use it to generate exams where each student's version would be different.
I sold a grand total of two copies. A marketing genius, I was not.
