ALGOL and IFIP – a brief survey in the origins of the algorithmic language
 
Helena Durnová 
Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Department of Mathematics
e-mail: durnova@feec.vutbr.cz 

Abstract 

Among the many programming languages, ALGOL holds a prominent position, especially in scientific programming. From the first stimulus to create an algorithmic language suitable for computers, both human and artificial, and the publication of the revised report on the last version, ALGOL 68, almost two decades elapsed. Under the auspices of IFIP, computer scientist met in order to create the language they thought to be the best. 

1. Introduction

FORTRAN, COBOL, and ALGOL are only three examples of early high-level programming languages. However, even these three examples let us see that there is probably no language that suits all. While (American) FORTRAN and (European) ALGOL seemed to have competed in the area of scientific computing, COBOL was the language to use in business. While FORTRAN and COBOL were developed in corporations, ALGOL was more of an effort of academics and one of the purposes of its design was also to provide the publication language for algorithms.

2. ALGOL’s first years

The preliminary report on ALGOL was published after a conference held in Zürich in 1958. Further meetings were held in Mainz (November 1958) and Copenhagen (February 1959). The conferences brought together several dozens of people from all over Europe interested in the creation of the ALGOrithmic Language. Apart from these meetings, the ALGOL Bulletin (ed. Peter Naur) and the Communications of the ACM contributed to general discussion. 

At the late 1950s, algorithms were still published in the form the author liked best, with no clear guidelines, no general style to be used by everybody. Thus it happened that mathematicians publishing algorithms as the result of their work even felt it necessary to tell the reader what they meant by an algorithm. (For details, see [4].) This changed rapidly with the introduction of ALGOL.

3. ALGOL 60

ALGOL 60 originated during a conference held in Paris in January 1960. As a result of this conference, the Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 appeared. To correct the errors of the original ALGOL 60, some of the authors of ALGOL 60 (nine authors, six adviser, and an observer) met in Rome in April 1962.

The reports distinguish among the Reference Language (the working language, using characters not limited by computers), Publication Language (publication language, in which different characters might be used in different countries), and Hardware Representations.

4. ALGOL 68

Since 1963, IFIP was discussing some language that would succeed ALGOL 60, with the provisional name “ALGOL X”. This was in the end to be ALGOL 68. Main contributions to that language came from Niklaus Wirth, Gerhard Seegmueller, Aad van Wijngaarden, Tony Hoare, and Peter Naur in the period 1965 till 1968.

The ALGOL 68 report shows quite clearly the fast advances that were made in computer science: in the ALGOL 68 report, concerns about the security, efficiency, and other concepts are outlined. In comparison with ALGOL 60, ALGOL 68 presented several new and different features, as e.g. the identity declaration.

5. Conclusions

The legacy of ALGOL includes even the very influential programming language Pascal, designed by Nicholas Wirth in 1971, or real-time languages CORAL (based on ALGOL 60) and RTL/2 (based on ALGOL 68). The ALGOL effort joined mathematicians and programmers even across the Iron Curtain, with Polish (W. M. Turski) and Russian (A. P. Ershov) participation, apart form the participation from the countries of Western Europe. In the U.S.A., however, ALGOL seemed to have played a much lesser role.

References 

[1]	P. Naur, ed.: Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60. 
Regnencentralen, Copenhagen, 1962.
[2]	A. van Wijngaarden et al.: Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68. Springer-Verlag, Berlin – Heidelberg – New York, 1976.
[3]	S. J. Young: Real Time Languages. Design and Development. Chichester: Elis Horwood Ltd., 1982.
[4]	H. Durnová: A History of Discrete Optimization. In: Fuchs, E. (ed.): Mathematics Throughout the Ages II, Prometheus, Prague, 2004, pp. 51-184.