tomr@ashtate (Tom Rombouts) (01/24/91)
As promised some weeks ago, following is a "paragraph" of as many computer language names as I could currently locate. This document is intended to eventually become the longest list of published computer programming language names ever assembled or compiled. (Pun intended!) Before you flame, disagree, cross-post, et cetera, please read my commentary that follows. Tom Rombouts Ashton-Tate Product Development 535 Esplanade, Redondo Beach, CA 90277 USENET: tomr@ashtate.A-T.com Last Updated: January 23, 1991 473L Query, 9 PAC, A-0 or A0, A-1 or A1, A-2 or A2, A-3 or A3, ACOM, Ada, ADAM, ADAPT, ADES, ADES II, AED, AED-0, AED-1, AED-JR, AESOP, AFAC, AIMACO, ALCOR, ALGEBRAIC, ALGOL, ALGOL 58, ALGOL 60, ALGOL 60 Revised, ALGOL 68, ALGOL W, ALGOL X, ALGOL Y, ALGY, Alphard, ALTAC, ALTRAN, ALPAK, Amber, AMBIT, AMTRAN, ANCP, Animated Movie, ANSI C, APL, APL/360, APT, APT II, APT III, APX III, ARITH-MATIC or ARITHMATIC, ASP, ASSEMBLY, AT-3, AWK, AUTO- PROMPT, AUTOCODE, AUTOCODER, AUTOCODING, B, B-0, BACAIC, BALGOL, BALITAC, BAP, BASEBALL, BASIC, BASIC AUTOCODER, Basic COBOL, Basic FORTRAN, Basic JOVIAL, BAWK, BC NELIAC, BCPL, Bliss, BELL, BELL L2, BELL L3, BIOR, BMDP, BNF, BOEING, BRIDGE, BUGSYS, C, C*, C++, C-10, C-INTERCAL, CADET, CAGE, CAL, CASE SOAP III, CBASIC, CDL, CHARYBDIS, CHIP, CITRAN, Clarion, CLIP, Clipper, Clu, CLP, CMS-2, COBOL, COBOL-1961 Extended, COGENT, COGO, COLASL, COLINGO, COMIT, COMIT II, COMMEN, Commercial Translator, Common LISP, Compact COBOL, COMPREHENSIVE, COMPROSL, Computer Compiler, Computer Design, COMTRAN, CONVERT, Concurrent C, Concurrent Pascal, Conniver, CORAL, CORAL 66, CORBIE, CORC, CORREGATE, CPL, CPS, CS[?], CS-4, CSP, Culler-Fried, D, DAISY 201, DAS, DATA- TEXT, DATATEXT, DATACODE I, dBASE, dBASE II, dBASE III, dBASE III+, dBASE IV, dBFAST, dBXL, DEACON, Delta, DEMON, DETAB 65, DETAB X, DIALOG, DIAMAG, DIMATE, DOCUS, DOUGLAS, DOL, DOW COMPILER, DRUCO I, DSL, DSL/90, DUAL-607, DYANA, DYNAMO, DYSAC, DYSTAL, Eagle, EASE II, EASIAC, EASY FOX, ECL, ECMA, Eiffel, EL- 1, ELI, EMACS LISP, English, EPL, ERFPI, ES-1, ESCAPE, ESI, ESP, Euclid, EULER, Extended ALGOL, FACT, FAIR, FAP, FASE, FAST, FLAIR, FLAP, FLIP, FLIP-SPUR, FLOP, FLOW-MATIC or FLOWMATIC, FLPL, FMS [?], FORC, Force, Force III, FOR TRANSIT, FORTRUNCIBLE, FORMAC, Formula ALGOL, FORTH, FORTRAN, FORTRAN I, FORTRAN II, FORTRAN IV, FORTRAN V, FORTRAN VI, FORTRAN 77, FORTRANSIT, FoxBASE+, FoxPRO, FP, Franz LISP, FRED, FRINGE, FSL, GARGOYLE, GAT, GATE, GECOM, Gedanken, GEPURS, GIM-1, GOL, GPL, GPM, GPS[?], GPSS, GPX, GRAF, Graphic Language, GWBASIC, HAL/S, Honeywell-800 business compiler, Hope, IAL, ICE, ICES, ICETRAN, Icon, IDS, IFIP, ILLIAC, Info BASIC, Information Algebra, INTERCAL, INTERCOM 101, INTERCOM 1000, Interlisp, IPL-I, IPL-II, IPL-III, IPL-IV, IPL-V, IPL-VI, IPL-VC, ISIS, ISWIM, IT, IT 3, Iverson's Language, J3B, J73, JAZ, JCL, JCS-13, JOSS, JOSS I, JOSS II, JOVIAL, JOVIAL 1, JOVIAL 2, JOVIAL 3, JPLDIS, JS, JTS, K5, KISS, Klerer-May, KOMPILER 2, KOMPILER 3, KRC, L6, Laning and Zierler, LAP, LDT, LECOM, LIPL, LIS, LISP, LISP 1, LISP 1.5, LISP 1.75, LISP 1.9, LISP 2, LML, LOGO, LOLITA, LOTIS, LT-2, LTR, LUCID, Lucid, MAC, MAC-360, Macsyma, MAD, MADCAP, MAGIC, Magic Paper, MAP, Maple, Mathematica, MATHLAB, MATHLAB 68, MATH-MATIC or MATHMATIC, Matrix Compiler, MATRIX MATH, MBASIC, Mesa, META 2, META 3, META 5, MIDAS, MILITRAN, Mini-tab, Miranda, MIRFAC, MISHAP, MITILAC, MJS, ML, ML/I, Modula, MODULA-2, MORAL, MPL, MPPL, MULTILANG, MYSTIC, NAPPS, Natural English, NELIAC, Nial, NICOL II, NORC COMPILER, NPL, NuPrl, NYAP, NYU OMNIFAX [?], Oberon, Object-Oberon, OCAL, OCAS, OCAL, occam, OLC, OMNICODE, OMNIFAX, OMNITAB, OPS, PACT I, PACT IA, PACTOLUS, PAL, PAT, Pascal, PAT, PDL2, PEARL, PENCIL, PERL, PIC, PICK BASIC, PIL, PIL/I, PILOT, PL/C, PL/I, PL/I- FORMAC, PL/M, PL360, PLANIT, Planner, POGO, Poly, Ponder, Pop, POSE, PRINT, PRINT I, PROJECT, Prolog, Proposal Writing, Protosynthex, PS-ALGOL, PUFFT, Q'nial (?) or Q'nail(?), QLISP, QA4, QUEASY, QUICK, Quicksilver, QUIKTRAN, QUIN, Rapidwrite, RAWOOP-SNAP, RATFOR, Recital, RECOL, REG-SYMBOLIC, RELATIVE, RELCODE, Report Program Generator, Required-COBOL 1961, Retrieve, Revised ALGOL 60, Rexx, ROADS, RPG, RPL, RTL/2, RUNCIBLE, RUSH, Russell, S-Algol, SAC, SAD SAM, SAIL, SAINT, SAFARI, SAP, SAS, SASL, Scheme, Scratchpad, SCRIPT, SEESAW, SETL, SFD-ALGOL, SHACO, SHADOW, SHELL, Short Code or SHORTCODE, SIFT, Simone, SIMSCRIPT, SIMPLE, Simula, Simula 67, Simulating Digital Systems, SIR, Sisal, Sketchpad, SLANG, SLIP, SMALGOL, Small C, Smalltalk, SML, SNOBOL, SNOBOL 1, SNOBOL 3, SNOBOL 4, SO 2, SOAP I, SOAP II, SOCRATIC [?], SODAS, SOHIO, SOL, SPAR, SPEED, Speedcode, Speedcoding, SPEEDCODING 3, SPEEDEX, SPL/1, SPLINTER, SPRINT, SPSS, SPUR, SQL, STAR 0, STP4, STRESS, STOBES, STRUDL, STUDENT, SUMMER SESSION, SURGE, SYMBOLIC ASSEMBLY, Symbolic Mathematical Laboratory, T, TABSOL, TACPOL, TALL, TAWK, TELCOMP, TELSIM, TeX, TGS-II, TINT, TIPL, TMG, TRAC, TRANDIR, TRANGEN, TRANS-USE, TRANSCODE, TRANSIT, TREET, True BASIC, TURING, Turtle, Turbo Pascal, UCSD Pascal, UGLIAC, UNCOL, UNICODE, UNISAP, USE, Vienna Definition Language, VITAL, Vulcan, WATFIV, WATFOR, WSL, X-1, Xbase, XLISP, XPL, XPOP, Y [?], YACC, Z, Zetalisp. YES, THE LIST IS INCOMPLETE: This is only a crude beginning. I already have language names that I have not yet added, and I expect a virtual barrage of e-mail with yet more. I admit that currently only English-based languages are included. (Except for APL! :-) ) Since my employer seems to prefer that I spend my time on things that might actually bring in money, I may have to turn this project over to others. A university site(s) would seem appropriate. Since this is essentially historical information that grows over time, I see little problem with multiple, parallel lists existing. Future builders of this list may be also be able to include a wider range of academic "theory" languages, such as those created for a masters or doctoral thesis. YES, A VERY LOOSE DEFINITION OF "LANGUAGE" IS USED: The above list includes query languages, c. 200 early "automatic programming systems" (essentially assemblers) that appeared in a list in CACM in May, 1959, as well as some nicknames and early or internal names that were never publicly used. (However, some dubious entries are indicated with question marks.) A number of the languages have not been known to be actually implemented. (Nearly 2/3 of the above names came from Jean Sammet's definitive 1969 book: "Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals", Prentice-Hall.) Other people can engage in lengthy debates on what constitutes a "true" computer language or what languages belong in what categories. YES, A LONGER VERSION OF THE LIST EXISTS: The above was culled from a preliminary language file, which is much like the various "jargon" files. Each entry includes an explanation of the name, a one or two sentence description, an approximate year of introduction, and an author(s) and/or citing of a published reference. At this point, the list is far too fragmentary to post to the net. I will e-mail this ever-increasing list (currently 52K) "as is" to those who are interested, as my time permits. This list also includes a bibliography, and will soon include a chronology of major events of computer language development, and may someday also include a glossary and a list of fundamental issues of computer language design and implementation. YES, YOU MAY DISAGREE WITH THE SPELLING OR PUNCTUATION: In general, acronyms are capitalized. Future revisions of the list will attempt to present langauge names as they most commonly appear. (I.E., "occam", "TeX", etc.) YES, YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE: Please e-mail me the name of the language with any information you can provide. For legitimacy, it would be nice to have at least one reference to a mention of the language in print. (However, at this early stage, the more the merrier!) When in doubt, a language name will be included. Note that our site seems to be able to get mail from many more places than I can send mail. Apologies in advance if I do not acknowledge each submission. Most likely I tried, but it "bounced." YES, STATISTICS WOULD BE INTERESTING: Any published statistics or guess-timates on how many global lines of active code exist in certain languages, how many people know or actively use a given language, what percent of the world's paid programming is done in what languages, et cetera, will also be added as an appendix. Net contributors to the language list so far: ============================================= LLoyd Allison lloyd@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU Marc-Michael Brandis brandis@inf.ethz.ch Bill Kinnersley cc.ukans.edu!kinnersley (?) Robert S. Sutor rssutor@math.princeton.edu sutor@yktvmz, sutor@ibm.com Some selected works on computer language history and design: ============================================================ B.J. MacLennan "Principles of Programming Languages" 2nd Edition, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1987. Often cited on The Net. Sammet, Jean E. "Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals" Prentice Hall, 1969. Lib of Congress #: 68-28110 The absolutely definitive work on early computer language development, by an IBM language technology manager. Almost 800 pages of meticulous detail. L.B. Wilson, R.G. Clark "Comparative Programming Languages" Addison-Wesley, 1988. ISBN: 0-201-18483-4 Languages compared on a feature-by-feature basis. "Proceedings: ACM SIGPLAN History of Programming Languages Conference" (Los Angeles, July, 1978) Perhaps the most entertaining account of the history of roughly 15 major programming languages. 310 pages. Jean Sammet apparently co- ordinated the conference. (Later appeared in book form with R.L. Wexelblat as editor, Academic Press, 1981.) ACM item number 548780. ACM order department toll-free number is 800-342-6626.