3 ms·

After reading the first … I found I am more interested in the author’s other page : https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.mainframe-virtualisation.html https:

After reading the first … I found I am more interested in the author’s other page : https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.mainframe-virtualisation.html https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.mainframe-virtualisa.... Algol 68 … in 1970s still have a bit of interest but not in 2022. Thanks. Move on.

Rochus 5y ago
So you neither should be interested in C. Algol 68 is actually a rather complex language; writing a working compiler for it is quite an achievement. I found this article very interesting: https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.algol-68-genie-history.html https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.algol-68-genie-histo...
- gnufx 5y ago
  Perhaps related: I understood that the Liverpudlian Fortran 90 compiler done by NA Software was based on an Algol 68 compiler (I don't know which one). I thought that was odd at the time, but it probably wasn't, and presumably shows the direct relevance to more recent language evolutions.
pjmlp 5y ago
Ah, if you only knew. http://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ http://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/
pessimizer 5y ago
Algol is so interesting that the vast majority of developers are absolutely repelled from languages that don't resemble it. Algol is ultimately why javascript looks like it looks rather than looking like other languages that it's more like, or why Erlang terrified people but Elixir soothes people.
- Rochus 5y ago
  There is quite a difference between Algol 60 (what I suppose you're refering to) and Algol 68. Most of todays languages are inspired by Algol 60 and Simula 67, including C, C++, Pascal, Java, Python and others. Records and unions were first proposed by Hoare in 1965 (Algol Bulletin 21) and adopted by Wirth for his Algol successor proposal which eventually led to Pascal; it was also adopted in Simula 67 by Dahl and Nyguard who extended the concept to what we today know as object-oriented programming. Algol 68 instead is based on the proposal by Wijngaarden which followed a different philosophy than Pascal or Simula.

Rochus 5y ago

So you neither should be interested in C. Algol 68 is actually a rather complex language; writing a working compiler for it is quite an achievement. I found this article very interesting: https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.algol-68-genie-history.html https://jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl/en.post.algol-68-genie-histo...

gnufx 5y ago
Perhaps related: I understood that the Liverpudlian Fortran 90 compiler done by NA Software was based on an Algol 68 compiler (I don't know which one). I thought that was odd at the time, but it probably wasn't, and presumably shows the direct relevance to more recent language evolutions.

pjmlp 5y ago

Ah, if you only knew. http://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ http://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/

pessimizer 5y ago

Algol is so interesting that the vast majority of developers are absolutely repelled from languages that don't resemble it. Algol is ultimately why javascript looks like it looks rather than looking like other languages that it's more like, or why Erlang terrified people but Elixir soothes people.

Rochus 5y ago
There is quite a difference between Algol 60 (what I suppose you're refering to) and Algol 68. Most of todays languages are inspired by Algol 60 and Simula 67, including C, C++, Pascal, Java, Python and others. Records and unions were first proposed by Hoare in 1965 (Algol Bulletin 21) and adopted by Wirth for his Algol successor proposal which eventually led to Pascal; it was also adopted in Simula 67 by Dahl and Nyguard who extended the concept to what we today know as object-oriented programming. Algol 68 instead is based on the proposal by Wijngaarden which followed a different philosophy than Pascal or Simula.