Article View: comp.lang.misc
Article #5611C and Algol 68
From: dmr
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 1988 09:23
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 1988 09:23
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1012 bytes
Practically everything ok@quintus cites as proving that C does not descend from Algol 68 is true, yet there was influence, much of it so subtle that it is hard to recover even when I think hard. In particular, the union type (a late addition to C) does owe to A68, not in any details, but in the idea of having such a type at all. More deeply, the type structure in general and even, in some strange way, the declaration syntax (the type-constructor part) was inspired by A68. And yes, of course, "long". Mostly, of course, C is Thompsonized BCPL (that is, B) with types. You don't have to look too hard to find PL/1 and Fortran, either. Dennis Ritchie
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!andante!alice!dmr From: dmr@alice.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: C and Algol 68 Message-ID: <7997@alice.UUCP> Date: 18 Jun 88 09:23:34 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill NJ Lines: 13