> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Paul Koning > Sent: 09 August 2015 16:40 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Cc: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu > Subject: Re: Classic programming > > > > On Aug 9, 2015, at 11:31 AM, Noel Chiappa <j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> > wrote: > > > >> From: Johnny Billquist > > > >> And one should not forget Algol. > > > > IIRC, Algol is mentioned in the paper I linked to. Of course, Algol's > > DNA is in pretty much every procedural language ever created since it was. > > Algol 60, that is. It was used as the inspiration by just about everything > that > followed, sometimes very clearly and cleanly (Pascal, Modula), sometimes less > so (C). And sometimes a designer created a total botch based on gross > misunderstanding of Algol (Jovial). > > Algol 68 is a very different and much more complex language. It didn’t go far > and wasn’t nearly as influential, though Arne Stroustrup mentions its > influence > on C++ (and this is pretty obvious when you look at C++ stream I/O). > > > > >> From: Andy Holt > > > >> (and, for that matter, PL/1 should probably be considered an unsung > >> inspiration for C as it was the implementation language for Multics > >> in which Bell labs was a partner and must have inspired at least the > >> name for Unix) > > > > The paper also mentions PL/I - IIRC, they (Ken, Dennis et al) had used > > it on Multics, and didn't like it. (Which I can understand!) I'm not > > sure there are any ideas from PL/I (specifically) which influenced C. > > PL/I also has the distinction (so to speak) of being the only programming > language in history with a formal description more difficult to understand > (by a > large margin, in fact) than the one used in Algol 68. >
I used to like Algol68, and got to play with an implementation called Algol68C on a DECSYSTEM-20 in the late 70s. Occasionally I ask if anyone has got the media for it, I still live in hope. I think there are some other implementations around, I should make the effort to try one some time. Regards Rob
