In memory of David Barron
35 years ago, in 1977, Professor Barron’s fifth book, Introduction to Programming Languages, was published. In 1980, the book was published in the USSR as part of the “Mathematical computer software” series.
The title of the book is misleading, because to read it, it is desirable to know at least 2-3 programming languages. And the book is not at all addressed as a textbook for beginners, it is rather a description and classification of then existing programming languages. For the Soviet Union, it was a balm for the soul: normal terminology, interesting epigraphs, a good translation, but the main thing is style. The book is read very easily, in some places flavored with witty phrases and jokes.
“The variety of programming languages is very large, and when learning a new language, sometimes it is better to treat it like any other foreign language: learning German, we don’t find out why some verbs are wrong - we may grumble and learn them by heart”
At that time, many blamed FORTRAN. But Barron reacted to his shortcomings from a different point of view: “Whatever they said about Fortran, its developers had clearly defined goals, which they achieved in earlier versions.”
It is a pity that such an approach is not remembered today. After all, there are now languages like PHP that are constantly being scolded, forgetting that the creators of the same PHP had clear goals and goals were achieved.
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Well, for this paragraph Barron you can put a monument:
“The worst are those languages that have been“ developed ”by large committees. (A camel is a horse created by a committee) . ” History has shown that languages are often developed by a small and cohesive team of like-minded people, or even alone. Such “committee” languages as Algol, PL / 1 or Ada (it was not created by the committee, but according to the requirements of the committee) are not in vain made history.
“Introduction to programming languages” is one of the first attempts to create a classification of programming languages that takes all the subtleties into account to the maximum. The book is divided into several parts, each of which examines each aspect by the example of different languages. After all, it is not enough to say that the language X follows the Y paradigm. In each part of the book, a separate part of the language is considered, for example, the requirements for code design, or arithmetic capabilities.
“See how terribly this is implemented in FORTRAN, not bad in PL / 1 and excellent in Algol”
Systematizing the basic properties of languages, Barron formulated the requirements for the joint development of Cambridge and London universities - the CPL language, which later grew up in C and C ++. The article “The Main Features of CPL” was a peculiar result of the work covered in the Introduction to Programming Languages. It is a pity that Barron’s name is half-forgotten; he is not placed in a row of such classics as Backus or Wirth. He did no less than they.
The title of the book is misleading, because to read it, it is desirable to know at least 2-3 programming languages. And the book is not at all addressed as a textbook for beginners, it is rather a description and classification of then existing programming languages. For the Soviet Union, it was a balm for the soul: normal terminology, interesting epigraphs, a good translation, but the main thing is style. The book is read very easily, in some places flavored with witty phrases and jokes.
“The variety of programming languages is very large, and when learning a new language, sometimes it is better to treat it like any other foreign language: learning German, we don’t find out why some verbs are wrong - we may grumble and learn them by heart”
At that time, many blamed FORTRAN. But Barron reacted to his shortcomings from a different point of view: “Whatever they said about Fortran, its developers had clearly defined goals, which they achieved in earlier versions.”
It is a pity that such an approach is not remembered today. After all, there are now languages like PHP that are constantly being scolded, forgetting that the creators of the same PHP had clear goals and goals were achieved.
')
Well, for this paragraph Barron you can put a monument:
“The worst are those languages that have been“ developed ”by large committees. (A camel is a horse created by a committee) . ” History has shown that languages are often developed by a small and cohesive team of like-minded people, or even alone. Such “committee” languages as Algol, PL / 1 or Ada (it was not created by the committee, but according to the requirements of the committee) are not in vain made history.
“Introduction to programming languages” is one of the first attempts to create a classification of programming languages that takes all the subtleties into account to the maximum. The book is divided into several parts, each of which examines each aspect by the example of different languages. After all, it is not enough to say that the language X follows the Y paradigm. In each part of the book, a separate part of the language is considered, for example, the requirements for code design, or arithmetic capabilities.
“See how terribly this is implemented in FORTRAN, not bad in PL / 1 and excellent in Algol”
Systematizing the basic properties of languages, Barron formulated the requirements for the joint development of Cambridge and London universities - the CPL language, which later grew up in C and C ++. The article “The Main Features of CPL” was a peculiar result of the work covered in the Introduction to Programming Languages. It is a pity that Barron’s name is half-forgotten; he is not placed in a row of such classics as Backus or Wirth. He did no less than they.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/152943/
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