Report on the algorithmic language ALGOL 60. OFFPRINT.

Peter Naur

Published by Communications of the ACM, 1960

About this Item

NAUR, P. (with J. W. Backus, F. L. Bauer, J. Green, C. Katz, J. Mccarthy, P. Naur, A. J. Perlis, H. Rutishauser, K. Samelson, B. Vauquois, J. H. Wegstein, A. Wijngaarden,M. Woodger) . Report on the algorithmic language ALGOL 60. Offprint: Communications of the ACM, May, 1960, vol 3, #5. 25x21cm, pp 299-314. Rare. There is evidently an two months earlier-but-not-circulated report (no citation for this), as well as a later printing appearing in Numerische Mathematik, 2/1, December, 1960, followed in 1962 with a longer edition. +_+ Much is owed to people like Peter Naur, a Dane who made an enormous contribution in the development of computer languages by being the lead developer in the creation of ALGOL. As a matter of fact Naur (b. 1928) received the computing world s equivalent of the Nobel Prize ( highest distinction in Computer science") the Turing Award for this work, receiving the high honor in 2005. The official short description again in the manner of the Nobel Committee was (f)or fundamental contributions to programming language design and the definition of ALGOL 60, to compiler design, and to the art and practice of computer programming . This all came to mind while looking through Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60 (published in the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, May 1960) which was edited by Naur. ALGOL was the creation of 40+ minds, twelve of whom were listed contributing to this paper- it is a great testament to Naur to control all of that input, producing a superb fifteen page report of great brevity, beautiful logic and accessibility. Perhaps If the team was given a lot more time Naur could ve made his work even more succinct, but I really doubt it. It is written in a language that is somewhat foreign to me, but I can certainly appreciate the way the work is structured its precise manner of presentation. It seems to me a hallmark of communicating complicated ideas in a small space. CONDITION: save for the rubber stamped signature of the previous owner at the top center of the front cover, a fine, fresh copy. Seller Inventory # ABE-1477671238003

Bibliographic Details

Title: Report on the algorithmic language ALGOL 60....

Publisher: Communications of the ACM

Publication Date: 1960

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Fine