steves@tekchips.LABS.TEK.COM (Steve Shellans) (03/13/90)
I have a body of programs written in Algol 60 for an old Data General
computer. I wish to convert them to run on a PC with minimum effort.
My questions:
1. Is it possible that there exists an Algol compiler that runs on
a PC? Is it supported? Does it recognize Data General's
particular flavor of Algol?
2. If not, then I must convert to a modern language. In talking
to some people, they suggested that Pascal was the closest
relative. Do you agree? Disagree? (Someone else suggested
Modula-2)
3. Does there exist a conversion program from Algol to Pascal?
Please don't restrict your thoughts to public domain software -- I'm
willing to pay for commercial products.
Thank you for your help and advice.
Steve Shellans
Tektronix, Beaverton OR
steves@tekchips.LABS.TEK.COMart@cs.bu.edu (Al Thompson) (03/13/90)
In article <5757@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM> steves@tekchips.LABS.TEK.COM (Steve Shellans) writes: | |I have a body of programs written in Algol 60 for an old Data General |computer. I wish to convert them to run on a PC with minimum effort. |My questions: | | 1. Is it possible that there exists an Algol compiler that runs on | a PC? Is it supported? Does it recognize Data General's | particular flavor of Algol? | | 2. If not, then I must convert to a modern language. Oops. Algol is a modern language, it's just dead now. Algol was the model upon which all block structured languages are based. Wirth designed Pascal to over come some of Algol's failings, most notably it's lack of data structuring support. In talking | to some people, they suggested that Pascal was the closest | relative. Do you agree? Disagree? (Someone else suggested | Modula-2) Wirth designed Pascal after a careful study of the Burroughs Algol compiler on the machine at Stanford. Many of the things incorporated in Pascal actually appeared as macros in the Algol compiler. Your translation could get a little hairy if the Algol program uses some of the language's fancier tricks e.g. dynamic arrays, or (shudder) dynamic own arrays. Assuming none of this fancy trickery the translation should be doable. | | 3. Does there exist a conversion program from Algol to Pascal? Probably not. You should scout around and find a Burroughs B6700 or the like. It will have an Algol compiler and there are Pascal compilers that run on them too. So, while you won't get a strict translation you should be able to make things happen. Good luck, you might need it.
sakkinen@tukki.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) (03/13/90)
In article <53790@bu.edu.bu.edu> art@cs.bu.edu (Al Thompson) writes: >In article <5757@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM> steves@tekchips.LABS.TEK.COM (Steve Shellans) writes: >| >|I have a body of programs written in Algol 60 for an old Data General >|computer. I wish to convert them to run on a PC with minimum effort. >|My questions: >| ... >| 2. If not, then I must convert to a modern language. > >Oops. Algol is a modern language, it's just dead now. Algol was the > ... >| In talking >| to some people, they suggested that Pascal was the closest >| relative. Do you agree? Disagree? (Someone else suggested >| Modula-2) Coral (or perhaps officially CORAL 66) might be the closest relative of Algol 60 that is rather generally available. I know about a Swedish research institute that bought PDP-11's to replace some antique computers around 10 years ago. One of their problems was that they had a lot of Algol 60 code (in a peculiar dialect, I think) that had to be ported. It succeeded rather smoothly using PDP-11 Coral. Coral was the official real-time language of the British government: I think at some time it was impossible to sell minicomputers to U.K. government agencies unless a Coral compiler was available. Therefore, most minicomputer manufacturers have supported Coral. Unfortunately, I don't know whether a compiler is available for PC's. >Wirth designed Pascal after a careful study of the Burroughs Algol >compiler on the machine at Stanford. Many of the things incorporated in >Pascal actually appeared as macros in the Algol compiler. > >Your translation could get a little hairy if the Algol program uses some >of the language's fancier tricks e.g. dynamic arrays, or (shudder) dynamic >own arrays. Assuming none of this fancy trickery the translation should >be doable. Oh yes, most "modern" languages haven't got dynamic arrays; they would be very nice for many purposes (e.g. general-purpose subroutine libraries). Note that even the "conformant" arrays of ISO standard Pascal (level 1) are not dynamic in the Algol 60 sense. What was it again that Tony Hoare said about Algol 60 ... Markku Sakkinen Department of Computer Science University of Jyvaskyla (a's with umlauts) Seminaarinkatu 15 SF-40100 Jyvaskyla (umlauts again) Finland SAKKINEN@FINJYU.bitnet (alternative network address)
munk@cstw10.prl.philips.nl (Harm Munk) (03/20/90)
Instead of going through the hassle of converting Algol-60 to Pascal, you could use a Simula compiler. Algol-60 is a subset of Simula(-67), so your programs should run without too much modifications. The parts that probably must be changed are the IO-procedures. There is a Simula-67 compiler for the PC, released about two years ago, but I don't remember the name of the company which developed it. What I rememeber, it was a Scandinavian company, probably from Norway. If you can't find any lead, I'll could make some inquiries. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harm Munk. |Standard Disclaimer goes Centre for Software Technology, Philips Eindhoven| here. PO BOX 80000 | 5600 JA EINDHOVEN | The Netherlands | --------------------------------------------------------------------------