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> Note that most code today is written in C, JavaScript, PHP, Java (none of which would win any prizes for theoretical elegance)... rather than ALGOL, ML, Haske

• Turing_Machine 10y ago
  That was long before my time, but from what I've read ALGOL's problems were that it was too complex to be easily implemented on the (very limited) hardware of the time, and a focus on theory to the extent that basic functionality was ignored (even I/O!). That made it great for writing down algorithms on paper, but troublesome if you actually wanted to use it.
  • mseepgood 10y ago
    Algol 68 was too complex, but Algol 60 was quite good and successful.