[net.wanted] Algol 68?

CSvax:cak (10/22/82)

I have heard it said many times that any computer scientist worth
his salt should take a swipe at understanding Algol68. This is all
well and good, except:

	o There don't seem to be any working a68 compilers around
	  for people to play with (at least not on Unix, unless
	  they're hiding somewhere).

	o There don't seem to be any well-known (to me, at least)
	  texts on the language, and all the original papers
	  are pretty old and not in many libraries; besides which, 
	  where do you start looking? Sigplan notices in Fall of 66?

So, my query is: does anyone know of a good a68 text? Can you point
me at a compiler? Can you point me at the original articles?

Umm, thanks in advance (isn't that how it goes?).

Cheers,
chris

laurir@sri-unix (10/23/82)

Among Algol 68'ers, the definitive book is
  "Informal Introduction to Algol 68 (revised)", by C. H. Lindsey and
  S. G. van der Meulen, from North-Holland Publishing Company.
This is the tutorial which is officially sanctioned by the language
  designers.  There's also a language definition, the "Revised Report",
  but for practical purposes it's unreadable.
You can get this in paperback cheap.
Be sure to get the *revised* book; the non-revised one describes a
  dead language.