CSvax:cak (10/24/82)
Thanks to all who found time to respond to my request for info on Algol 68. The overwhelming response was to look at Informal Introduction to Algol 68, by C. H. Lindsey and S. G. Van Der Meulen, North-Holland/American Elsevier, 1973 ISBN 0-7204-2048-2 Paperback A few of the responses were interesting in and of themselves, so I thought I'd pass them along..... ----Begin Forwarded Messages---- Date: 23 Oct 1982 01:19:54-EDT From: Bryan.Lyles To: seismo!harpo!ihps3!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!CSvax:cak Consider the original Algol 68 manual, especially section 4.4.1 and the following ---single--- sentence: No proper program contains an indication which as an operator-applied occurrence identifies an operator-defining occurrence which as an indication- applied occurrence identifies an indication-defining occurrence different from the one identified by the given indication as an indication-applied occurrence. Take a DEEP breath and say that twice. If you are still interested I will send you some references. (Try SIGPLAN for a start) Algol 68 has some good ideas but programming language design has passed it by. -Bryan Lyles allegra!rochester!bryan seismo!rochester!bryan Date: 23 Oct 1982 1953-EST (Saturday) From: EEvax.teklabs!tekmdp!steveg To: teklabs!pur-ee!CSvax.cak Fcc: outbox Date: 23 Oct 1982 at 1241-PDT (Saturday) Subject: Re: Algol 68? In-reply-to: Your news article purdue.410 of Fri Oct 22 09:47:36 1982 References I know of are: Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 68, Springer-Verlag, c 1976 ISBN 0-387-07592-5 or ISBN 3-540-07592-5 Paperback, about $10. Informal Introduction to Algol 68, by C. H. Lindsey and S. G. Van Der Meulen, North-Holland/American Elsevier, 1973 ISBN 0-7204-2048-2 Paperback Refers to the old language though I think there is a updated version of the book (which I don't have) for the newer language. Worth looking at just for its table of contents - orthogonal of course. It's a 8 by 7 matrix - chapters down the side and sections across the top. You can read the book either vertically or horizontally (e.g. either sections ordered 1.1, 1.1, 1.3 ... 2.1, 2.2, ... or 1.1, 2.1, ... 1.2, 2.2, ... where the numbers represent chapter.section). The way you read it depends on what you want out of the book - if just an overview you read horizontally, if you want to really learn the language you read vertically. It's a really intersting way of handling material that is very recursive (e.g. the dependency graph of what pieces you have to understand in order to understand any particular piece has many loops in it). There's also an introductory chapter (chapter 0 of course) that has a more normal orientation. Algol 68, a first and second course, Andrew D McGettrick, Cambridge University Press, 1978 (32 East 57th street New Your, NY 10022) Paperback I think you'll find it interesting. Algol 68'ers invented entirely new terms for common computer terms just so you would read the definitions and understand the nuances. Programs are not executed, they're elaborated. There is such a thing as collateral elaboration (a bit like the "c" comma operator). Steve Bourne (of the Bourne Shell) wrote (or at least worked on) Algol 68C (C for Cambridge, not "C"). I understand that it was ported to Unix when he went to work for BTL. See the "$a" command in the V7 adb for hints of its existance. Much of his convolution of the C language (try reading his shell or the ucds stuff) has it's roots in Algol 68. Steve Glaser, teklabs!steveg ----End Forwarded Messages---- Does anyone (outside of Bell, I guess) have a pointer to Steve Bourne's a68 compiler? Cheers, chris