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The Early Development of Programming Languages

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168 views

The Early Development of Programming Languages

Uploaded by

shabunc
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
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THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES by Donald E, Knuth Luis Trabb Pardo STAN-CS-76-562 AUGUST 1976 COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT School of Humanities and Sciences STANFORD UNIVERSITY ‘The Early Development of Programming Languages by Donald E, Knuth and Luis Trabb Pardo Computer Science Department Stanford University Stanford, California 94505 Abstract. This paper surveys the evolution of "high level" programming languages during the first decade of computer programing activity. We discuss the contributions of Zuse (""Plankalkil", 1945), Goldstine/von Neumann ("Flow Diagrams", 1946), Curry ("Composition", 1948), Mauchly et al. ("Short Code", 1950), Burks ("Intermediate PL", 1950), Rutishauser (1951), Bohm (1951), Glennie ("AUTOCODE", 1952), Hopper et al. ("A-2", 1953), Laning/Zierler (1953), Backus et al. ("FORTRAN", 1954-1957), Brooker ("Mark I Autocode", 1954), Kanynin/Liubimskii ("Mm-2", 1954), Ershov (""m", 1955), Grems/Porter ("BACAIC", 1955), Elsworth et al. ("Kompiler 2", 1955), Blum ("ADES", 1956), Perlis et al. ("I?", 1956), Katz et al. ("MATH-MATIC", 1956-1958), Hopper et al. ("FLOW-MATIC", 1956-1958), Bauer/Semelson (1956-1958). ‘The principal features of each contribution are illustrated; and for purposes of comparison, a particular fixed algorithm has been encoded (as far as possible) in each of the languages. This research is based primarily on unpublished source materials, and the authors hope thet they have been able to compile a fairly complete picture of the early develoyments in this area. This article was commissioned by the Incyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, ed. by Jack Belzer, Albert G, Holzman, and Allen Kent, and it is scheduled to appear in vol. 6 or vol. 7 of that encyclopedia during 1977. ‘The preparation of this paper has been supported in part by National Science Foundation grant MCS 72-03752 AO3, by the Office of Naval Research contract NOOOLs~76-C-0330, and by IBM Corporation. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States Government. The Early Development of Programming Languages It ds interesting and instructive to study the history of a subject not only because it helps us to understand how the importent ideas were om -- end to see how the "humen element" entered into each development -~ but also because it helps us to appreciate the amount of progress that has been made, This is especially striking in the case of programing languages, a subject which has long been undervalued by computer scientists. After learning a high-level language, a person often tends to think mostly of improvements he or she would like to see (since all languages can be improved), and it is very easy to underestimate the difficulty of creating that language in the first place. The real depth of this subject can only be properly perceived when we realize how long it took to develop ‘the important concepts which we now regard as self evident. ‘These ideas were by no means obvious @ priori, and many years of work by brilliant and dedicated people were necessary before our current state of mowledge was reached. The goal of this paper is to give an adequate account of the early history of "high level" programming languages, covering roughly the first decade of their development. Our story will take us up to 1957, when the practical importance of algebraic compilers was first being demonstrated, and when computers were just beginning to be available in large numbers. We will see how people's fundamental conceptions of algorithms and of the programming process evolved during the years -- not always in a forward @irection -- culminating in languages such as FORTRAN I. The best languages we shall encounter are, of course, very primitive by today's stendards, but they were good enough to touch off an explosive growth in language development; the ensuing decade of intense activity has been detailed in Jean Semmet's 785-page book [SA 69]. We shall be concerned with the more relaxed atmosphere of the "pre-Babell" days, when people who worked with computers foresaw the need for important aids to programming that did not yet exist, In many cases these developments were so far ahead of their time that they remained unpublished, and they are still largely unknown today.

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