Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!snark!eric
From: eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: colon-equal vs equal
Message-ID: <eWbWj#4OkIf8=eric@snark.UUCP>
Date: 22 Dec 88 20:02:04 GMT
References: <3300001@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Wild-Eyed Extremists for Freedom, Inc.
Lines: 12

In article <3300001@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu>, phil@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
> How did the := come into being in languages like Algol, Pascal, and Ada?

It originated with ALGOL-60. The European `bondage-and-discipline' school of
language design (the people who brought you Algol-68, Pascal, Modula, Ada, and
Modula-2 and are now having yet another try at getting their mistakes right in
Modula-3) likes to claim apostolic descent from that language, and
they've retained := and some of its other crotchets.
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond                     (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
      Email: eric@snark.uu.net                       CompuServe: [72037,2306]
      Post: 22 S. Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355      Phone: (215)-296-5718