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From: Brian Rogoff <bpr@shellx.best.com>
Subject: Algol 68 references (Was Re: The Red Language)
Date: 1997/09/21
Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.3.95.970921135002.8562B-100000@shellx.best.com>#1/1
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References: <340E2DC5.25D7@worldnet.att.net>
 <Pine.SGI.3.95.970916190053.19184D-100000@shellx.best.com>
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 <dewar.874850594@merv>
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Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1997-09-21T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


On 21 Sep 1997, Robert Dewar wrote:
> <<Could you briefly explain the Algol 68 rule?  Better yet, tell me where
>   I can get my hands on the manual!  I've read stuff *about* Algol 68, but
>   I want to read the actual language definition (which, I understand, is
>   rather tough going).>>
> 
> Algol-68 overloading is strictly based on operand types. There are two
> sources for looking at A68. First there was an article in Computing
> Surveys (one of its early issues), I *think* the title was something
> like "Algol-68 without Tears", but I could be imagining.
begin
    comment
      Mixing up refs, but close. Charles Lindsey wrote "Algol 68 with fewer 
      tears" (Computer Journal, v15n2 1972) and A. Tanenbaum wrote "A 
      Tutorial on Algol 68" (Computing Surveys v8n2 1976). The reason I
      know is that I acquired reading knowledge of A68 from these two 
      sources. I was never brave enough to have a go at the ref manual, 
      which was printed in Acta Informatica v5 (1975). 

      Lindsey also wrote a (sad and beautiful) article on the history
      of Algol 68 for HOPL-II, I don't have that ref, as I read it in a
      bookstore.
    comment # end of my citations #
end # read Lindsey's ref to get the joke here :-) #
 
> Finally, one more reference for just learning Algol-68 in a hurry is
> Ian Currie's magnificent 70-page "yellow book" that came with Algol-68R.
> This is a masterpiece of covering a lot of critical technical material,
> at an easily readable level, in a remarkably short space. A corresponding
> Ada 95 text would be most welcome.

I've never read this (before my time :-) but I think the short (~20 page) 
description of SML by Mads Tofte (Tips on Standard ML?) seems like a
similar bit of "modern" literature from your description

Incidentally, SML also has a very precise description too, "The Definition
of Standard ML" by Milner and others. ML is an interesting language, and I 
suspect the designers of Ada 95 were aware of it since generic formal
package parameters and signature packages make Ada a bit ML-like.

-- Brian