History of Programming Languages, Volume 2 (ACM Press) (Paperback)

by Thomas J. Bergin (Editor), Richard G. Gibson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This comprehensive overview of programming languages, their history, current application, and future direction, is based on the proceedings of the second conference on the History of Programming Languages. Its contents include a summary of the HOPL conferences, plus sections addressing successful programming languages by some of the most prominent names in computing.

From the Back Cover

This specially prepared work comprises a living archive of important programming languages, described by the people most instrumental in their creation and development. Drawn from the ACM/SIGPLAN Second History of Programming Languages Conference, this volume, like the earlier book from the first such conference (HOPL), conveys the motivations of the language designers, and the reasons why they rejected existing languages and created new ones. The book relates the processes by which different languages evolved, in the words of the individuals active in the languages' development. Most important, participants share insights about influences and decisions, both on choices made, and on the many roads not taken. In the book's conclusion, distinguished historians of computing share views about preserving programming language history.

Fourteen chapters cover a broad range of languages in wide use today, as well as lesser known languages that made significant contributions to programming language evolution: C, C++, Smalltalk, Pascal, Ada, Prolog, Lisp, ALGOL 68, FORMAC, CLU, Icon, Forth, Monitors and Concurrent Pascal, and Discrete Simulation Languages. Prominent contributors to the book are Frederick Brooks, Alain Colmerauer, Richard Gabriel, Ralph Griswold, Per Brinch Hansen, Alan Kay, C.H. Lindsey, Barbara Liskov, Richard Nance, Elizabeth Rather, Dennis Ritchie, Jean Sammet, Guy Steels, Bjarne Stroustrup, William Whitaker, and Niklaus Wirth. Together, the conference contributors and the book's editors have put together a volume of interest to researchers, teachers, students, and computing professionals everywhere who are involved in the use or the development of programming languages today.

0201895021B04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (February 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201895021
• ISBN-13: 978-0201895025
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #811,980 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Look at the Origins of Important Languages, February 22, 2001

By	James Jones (Clive, IA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Until such time as someone tries to fill the shoes of Jean Sammet and write a new overview of programming languages (a major job, that!), the HOPL conferences are the main source of insight into the development of programming languages that, Sapir-Whorf style, have shaped the way we view programming and the problems we try to solve with a computer. Even if someone does take up that task, the HOPL conferences are invaluable, since they provide information straight from the people involved.

This volume of the proceedings of HOPL II is thus invaluable for the student of programming. HOPL I covered the main early languages (Algol 60, FORTRAN, COBOL, LISP, APT, BASIC...); HOPL II covers important languages of more recent vintage (Algol 68, Pascal, C, C++. more recent dialects of LISP). C.H. Lindsey's fine paper on the turbulent development of Algol 68, the best language you probably never used and a major influence on later languages, is worth the price of admission by itself.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Collection of Resources, June 4, 1999

By A Customer

I have read many many computer jounrals about the history of computing. Very few resources have put the kind of time and effort that Thomas Bergin has done in his book. Along with assistant editor, RIck Gibson, both men do a fine job collecting the best of the best resources and giving it right to the public upfront. I wish Bergin can do another book or something Internet related because this is truly apart of computing that we do not really have much material on.