IFIP Working Group 2.1
Encyclopedia
IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi is a working group of the International Federation for Information Processing
(IFIP).
IFIP WG 2.1 was formed as the body responsible for the continued support and maintenance of the ALGOL 60
programming language.
The Modified Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 and the ALGOL 68
programming language were produced by WG 2.1.
, then a leading scientific journal
, as the publication language for algorithms, then an important part of the items published in the Communication. Computer manufacturers and academic groups were laboring to produce implementations. There were issues that needed clarification, such as ambiguities and errors in the Report. Another urgent issue was the complete absence of even basic I/O
facilities.
The authors of the ALGOL 60 Report met in Rome
, Italy
in April 1962 to resolve most of the ambiguities and errors known at the time, resulting in the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60. During that meeting, the authors decided to institutionalize the responsibility for the continued support and maintenance of ALGOL 60 by transferring it to the young international IFIP organization.
To this end, IFIP established a working group, to operate under its Technical Committee 2 on Programming. The initial membership of the new working group, the first of many IFIP working groups, consisted largely of most of the original authors, with the addition of several members responsible for ALGOL 60 implementations. IFIP WG 2.1 held its first meeting in August 1962 in Munich
, Germany
.
: largely the field of numerical computation. IFIP WG 2.1 embarked on the design of a successor, code-named ALGOL X
, to the ALGOL 60 programming language with a much wider application scope, including non-numerical programming, areas better served by languages like COBOL
and Lisp than by ALGOL 60. Among several competing initial designs, including a proposal by Niklaus Wirth
that eventually led to ALGOL W
, the Working Group chose that by Aad van Wijngaarden, ultimately leading to ALGOL 68
.
IFIP WG 2.1 decided to adopt the design in December 1968 during a stormy meeting, once again held in Munich. However, there was considerable opposition among the membership, led by Edsger Dijkstra
, expressed in a Minority Report and later leading to a split in the group and the formation of a new working group, IFIP Working Group 2.3 on Programming Methodology.
International Federation for Information Processing
The International Federation for Information Processing is an umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information technology. It is a non-governmental, non-profit organization with offices in Laxenburg, Austria...
(IFIP).
IFIP WG 2.1 was formed as the body responsible for the continued support and maintenance of the ALGOL 60
ALGOL 60
ALGOL 60 is a member of the ALGOL family of computer programming languages. It gave rise to many other programming languages, including BCPL, B, Pascal, Simula, C, and many others. ALGOL 58 introduced code blocks and the begin and end pairs for delimiting them...
programming language.
The Modified Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 and the ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...
programming language were produced by WG 2.1.
Formation
Soon after the publication of the original ALGOL 60 Report in 1960, issues arose that needed some form of authoritative resolution. ALGOL 60 had been chosen by the Communications of the ACMCommunications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...
, then a leading scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
, as the publication language for algorithms, then an important part of the items published in the Communication. Computer manufacturers and academic groups were laboring to produce implementations. There were issues that needed clarification, such as ambiguities and errors in the Report. Another urgent issue was the complete absence of even basic I/O
I/O
I/O may refer to:* Input/output, a system of communication for information processing systems* Input-output model, an economic model of flow prediction between sectors...
facilities.
The authors of the ALGOL 60 Report met in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in April 1962 to resolve most of the ambiguities and errors known at the time, resulting in the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60. During that meeting, the authors decided to institutionalize the responsibility for the continued support and maintenance of ALGOL 60 by transferring it to the young international IFIP organization.
To this end, IFIP established a working group, to operate under its Technical Committee 2 on Programming. The initial membership of the new working group, the first of many IFIP working groups, consisted largely of most of the original authors, with the addition of several members responsible for ALGOL 60 implementations. IFIP WG 2.1 held its first meeting in August 1962 in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
ALGOL 68
When ALGOL 60 was designed, its intended scope of use was similar to that of FORTRANFortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
: largely the field of numerical computation. IFIP WG 2.1 embarked on the design of a successor, code-named ALGOL X
ALGOL X
ALGOL X was the code name given to the programming language which the Working Group 2.1 on ALGOL of the International Federation for Information Processing was to develop as a successor to ALGOL 60. It attempted to find a "short-term solution to existing difficulties"."... the Algol 60 devotees had...
, to the ALGOL 60 programming language with a much wider application scope, including non-numerical programming, areas better served by languages like COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
and Lisp than by ALGOL 60. Among several competing initial designs, including a proposal by Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Emil Wirth is a Swiss computer scientist, best known for designing several programming languages, including Pascal, and for pioneering several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984 he won the Turing Award for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages.-Biography:Wirth...
that eventually led to ALGOL W
ALGOL W
ALGOL W is a programming language. It was based on a proposal for ALGOL X by Niklaus Wirth and C. A. R. Hoare as a successor to ALGOL 60 in IFIP Working Group 2.1. When the committee decided that the proposal was not a sufficient advance over ALGOL 60, the proposal was published as A contribution...
, the Working Group chose that by Aad van Wijngaarden, ultimately leading to ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...
.
IFIP WG 2.1 decided to adopt the design in December 1968 during a stormy meeting, once again held in Munich. However, there was considerable opposition among the membership, led by Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ; ) was a Dutch computer scientist. He received the 1972 Turing Award for fundamental contributions to developing programming languages, and was the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin from 1984 until 2000.Shortly before his...
, expressed in a Minority Report and later leading to a split in the group and the formation of a new working group, IFIP Working Group 2.3 on Programming Methodology.
Some notable former and current members
- Roland Carl BackhouseRoland Carl BackhouseRoland Carl Backhouse is a British computer scientist and mathematician who is currently Professor of Computing Science at the University of Nottingham.-Early life and education:...
- Friedrich L. BauerFriedrich L. BauerFriedrich Ludwig Bauer is a German computer scientist and professor emeritus at Technical University of Munich.-Life:...
- Richard Bird
- Stephen R. BourneStephen R. BourneSteve Bourne is a computer scientist, originally from the United Kingdom and based in the US for most of his career. He is most famous as the author of the Bourne shell , which is the foundation for the standard command line interfaces to Unix....
- Robert DewarRobert DewarRobert Berriedale Keith Dewar is an American computer scientist.-Education:Dewar obtained his B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1964, and his Ph.D., also from the University of Chicago, in 1968.-Career:...
- Edsger W. Dijkstra
- Andrey ErshovAndrey ErshovAcademician Andrey Petrovych Ershov was a Soviet computer scientist, notable as a pioneer in systems programming and programming language research. He was responsible for the languages ALPHA and Rapira, AIST-0 the first Soviet time-sharing system, electronic publishing system RUBIN, and MRAMOR, a...
- Robert W. Floyd
- Jeremy GibbonsJeremy GibbonsJeremy Gibbons is a Computer Scientist and Professor of Computing at the University of Oxford. He is also Deputy Director of the Software Engineering Programme at the University of Oxford and Governing Body Fellow at Kellogg College.- Academic :...
- David GriesDavid GriesDavid Gries is an American computer scientist at Cornell University, United States. He is currently Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Engineering. His research interests include programming methodology and related areas such as programming languages, programming...
- Eric HehnerEric HehnerEric C. R. Hehner, called Rick, is a Canadian computer scientist.Eric Hehner was born on 16 September 1947 in Ottawa. He studied mathematics and physics at Carleton University, obtaining his first degree in 1969. He gained a PhD in computer science from the University of Toronto in 1974. He then...
- Tony Hoare
- Cornelis H. A. KosterCornelis H. A. KosterCornelis Hermanus Antonius "Kees" Koster is a professor in the Department of Informatics of the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands....
- Peter Landin
- Charles H. Lindsey
- John McCarthyJohn McCarthy (computer scientist)John McCarthy was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence" , invented the Lisp programming language and was highly influential in the early development of AI.McCarthy also influenced other areas of computing such as time sharing systems...
- Tom MaibaumTom MaibaumProf. Tom Maibaum is a British-Canadian computer scientist.Maibaum has an undergraduate degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of Toronto, Canada , and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of London, England .Professor Maibaum has held academic posts at Imperial College, London,...
- Barry J. MaillouxBarry J. MaillouxBarry James Mailloux obtained his M.Sc in Numerical Analysis in 1963.From 1966 he studied at Amsterdam's Mathematisch Centrum under Adriaan van Wijngaarden....
- Lambert MeertensLambert MeertensLambert Guillaume Louis Théodore Meertens is a Dutch computer scientist and professor.While still a student at the Ignatius Gymnasium in Amsterdam, Meertens designed a computer, together with his classmate Kees Koster....
- Peter NaurPeter NaurPeter Naur is a Danish pioneer in computer science and Turing award winner. His last name is the N in the BNF notation , used in the description of the syntax for most programming languages...
- John E. L. PeckJohn E. L. PeckJohn E. L. Peck was the first permanent Head of Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. He remained the Head of Department from 1969 to 1977....
- Willem van der PoelWillem van der PoelWillem Louis van der Poel is a pioneering Dutch computer scientist, who is known for designing the ZEBRA computer. In 1950 he obtained an engineering degree in applied science at Delft University of Technology. In 1956 he obtained his PhD degree from the University of Amsterdam...
- Brian RandellBrian RandellBrian Randell is a British computer scientist, and Emeritus Professor at the School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, U.K. He specializes in research in software fault tolerance and dependability, and is a noted authority on the early prior to 1950 history of computers.- Biography...
- Douglas T. RossDouglas T. RossDouglas Taylor Ross was an American computer scientist pioneer, and Chairman of SofTech, Inc.. He is most famous for originating the term CAD for computer-aided design, and is consider to be the father of Automatically Programmed Tools a language to drive numerically controlled manufacturing.-...
- Klaus SamelsonKlaus SamelsonKlaus Samelson was a German mathematician, physicist, and computer pioneer in the area of programming language translation and push-pop stack algorithms for sequential formula translation on computers.- Early life :...
- Jacob T. Schwartz
- Micha SharirMicha SharirMicha Sharir is a professor of computer science at Tel Aviv University, known for his work in computational geometry.After completing his undergraduate studies at Tel Aviv University in 1970, Sharir received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Tel Aviv in 1976 under the supervision of Aldo Lazar...
- David TurnerDavid Turner (computer scientist)Professor David Turner is a British computer scientist.He has a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. He has held professorships at Queen Mary College, London, University of Texas at Austin and the University of Kent at Canterbury, where he now retains the post of Emeritus Professor.He is...
- Aad van Wijngaarden
- Niklaus WirthNiklaus WirthNiklaus Emil Wirth is a Swiss computer scientist, best known for designing several programming languages, including Pascal, and for pioneering several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984 he won the Turing Award for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages.-Biography:Wirth...
- Nobuo YonedaNobuo Yonedawas a Japanese mathematician and computer scientist. The Yoneda lemma in category theory is named after him. In computer science, he is known for his work on ALGOL dialects.-References:...