algol

4 definitions found

algol - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Algol \Al"gol\, n. [Ar. al-gh[=u]l destruction, calamity, fr.
     gh[=a]la to take suddenly, destroy.] (Astron.)
     A fixed star, in Medusa's head, in the constellation Perseus,
     remarkable for its periodic variation in brightness.
     [1913 Webster]

algol - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Algol
      n 1: the second brightest star in Perseus; the first known
           eclipsing binary
      2: (from a combination of ALGOrithmic and Language); a
         programming language used to express computer programs as
         algorithms

algol - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  ALGOL 60
  ALGOL
  
     <language> ALGOrithmic Language 1960.
  
     A portable language for scientific computations.  ALGOL 60 was
     small and elegant.  It was block-structured, nested,
     recursive and free form.  It was also the first language
     to be described in BNF.
  
     There were three lexical representations: hardware,
     reference, and publication.  The only structured data types
     were arrays, but they were permitted to have lower bounds
     and could be dynamic.  It also had conditional expressions;
     it introduced :=; if-then-else; very general "for" loops;
     switch declaration (an array of statement labels generalising
     Fortran's computed goto).  Parameters were call-by-name
     and call-by-value.  It had static local "own" variables.
     It lacked user-defined types, character manipulation and
     standard I/O.
  
     See also EULER, ALGOL 58, ALGOL 68, Foogol.
  
     ["Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60", Peter Naur
     ed., CACM 3(5):299-314, May 1960].
  
     (1995-01-25)
  

algol - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :

  ALGOL
         ALGOrithmic Language