Revised report on the algorithmic language ALGOL 68

by Cornelis H. A. Koster

Algol-68, from 1968, was the most advance algorithmic computer language of its time, and this book was a bombshell which raised the standards for definition of a computer language. The language introduced early forms of metaprogramming (which evolved into templates or generics in the Algol family of languages. PL/1, Pascal, Modula, C, C++, Ada, Java, JScript, C#, etc. all have their form influenced by Algol, though some of the concepts (like access to nested stack scopes) were eventually discarded. van Wijngaarden was also a participant in the earlier Algol language. Algol 68 was...