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GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

gcc.gnu.org

21–30 of 115 posts

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#21

Where might one look to find examples of such code? I've never found algol outside of wikipedia

https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:ALGOL_68

https://github.com/search?q=algol68&type=repositories

Without knowing what your interests/motivations and backgrounds are, it is hard to make good recommendations, but if you didn't know about rosettacode or github I figured I should start with that

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#22
post #14
post #2

As a fan of Algol 68, I'm pretty excited for this. For people who aren't familiar with the language, pretty much all modern languages are descended from Algol 60 or Algol 68. C descends from Algol 60, so pretty much every popular modern language derives from Algol in some way [1]. [1] https://ballingt.com/assets/prog_lang_poster.png

> I'm pretty excited for this Aside from historical interest, why are you excited for it?

Personally, I think the whole C tangent was a misstep and would love to see Algo 68 turn into Algo 26 or 27. I sort of like C and C++ and many other languages which came, but they have issues. I think Algo 68 could develop into something better than C++, it has some of the pieces already in place.

Admittedly, every language I really enjoy and get along with is one of those languages that produced little compared to the likes of C (APL, Tcl/Tk, Forth), and as a hobbyist I have no real stake in the game.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#23
In my mind this highlights something I've been thinking about, the differences between FOSS influenced by corporate needs vs FOSS driven by the hacker community.

FOSS driven by hackers is about increasing and maintaining support (old and new hardware, languages etc..) while FOSS influenced by corporate needs is about standardizing around 'blessed' platforms like is happening in Linux distributions with adoption of Rust (architectures unsupported by Rust lose support).

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#24
post #2

As a fan of Algol 68, I'm pretty excited for this. For people who aren't familiar with the language, pretty much all modern languages are descended from Algol 60 or Algol 68. C descends from Algol 60, so pretty much every popular modern language derives from Algol in some way [1]. [1] https://ballingt.com/assets/prog_lang_poster.png

Yes, massively influential, but was it ever used or popular?, I always think of it as sort of the poster child for the danger of "design by committee".

Sure it's ideas spawned many of today's languages, But wasn't that because at the time nobody could afford to actually implement the spec. So we ended up with a ton of "algols buts" (like algol but can actually be implemented and runs on real hardware).

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#25
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm pretty excited for this Aside from historical interest, why are you excited for it?

Personally, I think the whole C tangent was a misstep and would love to see Algo 68 turn into Algo 26 or 27. I sort of like C and C++ and many other languages which came, but they have issues. I think Algo 68 could develop into something better than C++, it has some of the pieces already in place. Admittedly, every language I really enjoy and get along with is one of those languages that produced little compared to t…

Whilst I think that C has its place, my personal choice of Algol 26 or 27 would be CLU – a highly influential, yet little known and underrated Algol inspired language. CLU is also very approachable and pretty compact.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#26
post #24
post #2

As a fan of Algol 68, I'm pretty excited for this. For people who aren't familiar with the language, pretty much all modern languages are descended from Algol 60 or Algol 68. C descends from Algol 60, so pretty much every popular modern language derives from Algol in some way [1]. [1] https://ballingt.com/assets/prog_lang_poster.png

Yes, massively influential, but was it ever used or popular?, I always think of it as sort of the poster child for the danger of "design by committee". Sure it's ideas spawned many of today's languages, But wasn't that because at the time nobody could afford to actually implement the spec. So we ended up with a ton of "algols buts" (like algol but can actually be implemented and runs on real hardware).

Used extensively on Burroughs mainframes.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#27
I find this great, finally an easy way to play with ALGOL 68, beyond the few systems that made use of it, like the UK Navy project at the time.

Ironically, Algol 68 and Modula-2 are getting more contributions than Go, on GCC frontends, which seems stuck in version 1.18, in a situation similar to gcj.

Either way, today is for Algol's celebration.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#28

Where might one look to find examples of such code? I've never found algol outside of wikipedia

Old papers and computer manuals from the 1960's.

Many have been digitalized throughout the years across Bitsavers, ACM/SIGPLAN, IEEE, or university departments.

Also heavily influenced languages like ESPOL, NEWP, PL/I and its variants.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#29
post #15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until a few years ago, gccgo was well maintained and trailed the main Go compiler by 1 or 2 releases, depending on how the release schedules aligned. Having a second compiler was considered an important feature. Currently, the latest supported Go version is 1.18, but without Generics support. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but porting Generics to gccgo may have been a hurdle that broke the cadence.

Seems doubtful, given that generics and the gccgo compiler were both spearheaded by Ian Lance Taylor, it seems more likely to me that him leaving google would be a more likely suspect, but I don't track go.

This has been stagnant long before he left.

Re: GCC SC approves inclusion of Algol 68 Front End

#30
post #4

They can just fork off the Golang frontend and it would be the same, maybe patch the runtime a bit.

Being an old dog, as I mention elsewhere, I see a pattern with gcj.

GCC has some rules to add, and keep frontends on the main compiler, instead of additional branches, e.g. GNU Pascal never got added.

So if there is no value with maintenance effort, the GCC steering will eventually discuss this.

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