Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!gatech!mcnc!ece-csc!ncrcae!ncrlnk!uunet!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!keith
From: keith@mva.cs.liv.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Algol-68 down for the count (was: Why have FORTRAN 8x at all?)
Message-ID: <5495@mva.cs.liv.ac.uk>
Date: 25 Nov 88 09:43:20 GMT
References: <388@ubbpc.UUCP> <16187@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <599@quintus.UUCP> <591@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP> <404@ubbpc.UUCP> <7774@aw.sei.cmu.edu>
Lines: 41
Organisation: Computer Science CSMVAX, Liverpool University

In article <7774@aw.sei.cmu.edu>, firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) writes:

> Please add the following institutions, all of which either used or taught
> Algol-68:
> 
> 	University of Oxford
> 	University of Cambridge
> 	University of London
> 	Royal Signals and Radar Establishment
> 	Royal Military College of Science

Add     University of Liverpool, Dept. CS, Dept. SCM
          Algol68 R (ICL 1906S) - now defunct as of 1984
          Algol68 S (Modular One) -  '' ditto ''
          Algol68 RS (VAX/VMS) - defunct as of 1988 -
                                 moved to Irvine ADA on HP 850 and 300 series.
          FLACC Algol68 (VM/CMS) still in use as a teaching language until
                                 next year.

> However, a better test of the language as a piece of design is the number >
> of key concepts it introduced. This includes
>
>    formal definition of static semantics using a van-Wingaarden grammar 
                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this was part of the reason Algol68 never caught on. Compiler writers
were too lazy to learn how to read the revised report. I found it to be a
refreshing change to to elastic bands, glue and tippex styles used for other
LRMs/definitions. 

The template on which Ada is founded was reputedly Pascal. Ada might not
have been subject to the controversy it has generated if its basis had been
Algol68 (Hell, we could have called it Algol-88 or something).

Keith

Keith Halewood  Janet:     KEITH@UK.AC.LIV.CS.MVA
                Internet:  KEITH%MVA.CS.LIV.AC.UK@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
                UUCP:      ...!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!keith
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