algol 68

1 definition found

algol 68 - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  ALGOL 68
  
     <language> An extensive revision of ALGOL 60 by Adriaan van
     Wijngaarden et al.  ALGOL 68 was discussed from 1963 by
     Working Group 2.1 of IFIP.  Its definition was accepted in
     December 1968.
  
     ALGOL 68 was the first, and still one of very few, programming
     languages for which a complete formal specification was
     created before its implementation.  However, this
     specification was hard to understand due to its formality, the
     fact that it used an unfamiliar metasyntax notation (not
     BNF) and its unconventional terminology.
  
     One of the singular features of ALGOL 68 was its orthogonal
     design, making for freedom from arbitrary rules (such as
     restrictions in other languages that arrays could only be used
     as parameters but not as results).  It also allowed user defined data types
     , then an unheard-of feature.
  
     It featured structural equivalence; automatic type
     conversion ("coercion") including dereferencing; flexible arrays
     ; generalised loops (for-from-by-to-while-do-od),
     if-then-else-elif-fi, an integer case statement with an 'out'
     clause (case-in-out-esac); skip and goto statements;
     blocks; procedures; user-defined operators; procedure parameters
     ; concurrent execution (par-begin-end);
     semaphores; generators "heap" and "loc" for dynamic allocation
     .  It had no abstract data types or separate compilation
     .
  
     (http://www.bookrags.com/research/algol-68-wcs/).
  
     (2007-04-24)