What is ALGOL programming language?

ALGOL (ALGOrithmic Language) is one of several high level languages designed specifically for programming scientific computations. It started out in the late 1950’s, first formalized in a report titled ALGOL 58, and then progressed through reports ALGOL 60, and It was designed by an international committee to be a universal language.

Why is ALGOL so important?

Although ALGOL never reached the level of commercial popularity of FORTRAN and COBOL, it is considered the most important language of its era in terms of its influence on later language development.

What was the impact of ALGOL 60?

One of the greatest impacts ALGOL 60 had was a result of its description as found in Naur (1963). A major contribution of this report was the introduction of BNF notation for defining the syntax of the language.

What is the most orthogonal programming language?

Overall, ALGOL is considered to be perhaps the most orthogonal programming language, meaning it has a relatively small number of basic constructs and a set of rules for combining those constructs. Every construct has a type associated with it and there are no restrictions on those types.

What is the purpose of the ALGOL manual?

The manual is written both for the user who is familiar with ALGOL implementations and for the user who has no knowledge of ALGOL but is reasonably fluent in a high-level scientific programming language such as FORTRAN IV.

Where can I find the ALGOL programmer’s reference manual?

ALGOL PROGRAMMER’S REFERENCE MANUAL This manual reflects Version 6 of the ALGOL System. Additional copies of this manual may be ordered from: Software Distribution Center, Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA 01754 Order Code: DEC-10-LALMA-B-O

What dialect is ALGOL 60 written in?

My first ALGOL 60 program (circa 1969) was written in an all upper case dialect with no quotes on the keywords. This was the implementation provided by the Dartmouth Time Sharing System, the system that first gave us the BASIC language.