Algol introduced some key concepts used today, such as nested blocks instead of go-to's (or at least prefered over), and readable-versus-writable parameters (si

Algol introduced some key concepts used today, such as nested blocks instead of go-to's (or at least prefered over), and readable-versus-writable parameters (similar to by-value versus by-reference parameters). The length limit of variable names was mostly a hardware-centric concern back then, I believe; not a language design preference itself. It was bound to expand as hardware got cheaper & faster. The first compilers were really slow; shortcuts mattered a lot. I will agree that things like "record statements" may have come from the COBOL camp, although there may have been precursors in punched-card templates. I should note Algol was influenced by FORTRAN.