BKHOPL.RVW   960722
 
"History of Programming Languages", Richard L. Wexelblat (ed.), 1981,
0-12-745040-8
%E   Richard L. Wexelblat
%C   1300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA   02167
%D   1981
%G   0-12-745040-8
%I   Academic Press
%O   +1-617-232-0500 +1-800-3131277 app@acad.com
%P   758
%T   "History of Programming Languages"
 
As valuable as is the second book of the same title (cf. BKHOPLII.RVW), this
original is far the more interesting and entertaining.  (Having been privileged
to hear the tapes of the 1978 conference that this volume catalogues, I can
actually hear Grace Murray Hopper's opening "I'm appalled at you, in a way. 
You're all `Establishment'.")
 
While the later conference covered more current languages such as C and C++,
here we have the older, and in many cases more fundamental, Fortran, Algol,
LISP, COBOL, APT, Jovial, GPSS, SIMULA (possibly the first really object-
oriented language, extending some Algol concepts), JOSS, BASIC (of infamous
memory), PL/I, SNOBOL, and APL.
 
The preprint paper, session transcript, discussant's remarks, and question and
answer periods are included.  (The banquet speeches aren't, which is a bit of a
shame.)
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKHOPL.RVW   960722

======================
roberts@decus.ca   rslade@vanisl.decus.ca  Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1.fidonet.org
 Just about every computer on the market today runs UNIX, except the Mac (and
                 nobody cares about it).  - Bill Joy, 6/21/85
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)