Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!fuug!demos!avg From: avg@hq.demos.su (Vadim Antonov) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Algol68 Message-ID: <1991Mar20.182926.13810@hq.demos.su> Date: 20 Mar 91 18:29:26 GMT References: <3787@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> <1991Mar8.202516.10401@praxis.co.uk> <1991Mar11.123405.17814@bellcore.bellcore.com> <9168@castle.ed.ac.uk> Organization: DEMOS, Moscow, USSR Lines: 36 In dww@math.fu-berlin.de (Debora Weber-Wulff) writes: >Why is Algol 68 not being used? Well, it seems to have every feature >ever needed, and is thus rather difficult to read and learn. Difficult??? You can say so after PL/I, Ada and C++ ?! The main advantage of Algol-68 is simplicity and small number of basic orthogonal elements. It's even simplier than Pascal (in number of senses). >Sure, it has some nice stuff (like "own" variables), but look at >the definition - what is it, 5 cm thick? "own" variables is a feature of Algol-60. Variables in Algol-68 are syntactic sugar, not a basic element. 5-cm thick is the FORMAL definition of the language and it should be read only by complier designers, not for end loosers. There are also some informal books on Algol-68, some are really good (cannot remember authors now, sigh). The latter books are not thick. After all Algol-68 is THE ONLY well-described language. >All the same, I'd like to hear about "real" software (as opposed >to programming exercises) that have been programmed in it. Some sexy military programs I've heard about. Plus I have known a women who wrote a whole medical information system for Moscow University in Algol 68. UK Royal Radar Society used it as well. I think the only reason why Algol-68 was forgotten is the well-known American ignorance on European computer civilization. Pascal seems to be the first worldwide accepted European language. Algol-68 was too early. Still I think it deserves to be remembered. Vadim Antonov DEMOS, Moscow, USSR