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Exploring the Computational Medium

On the ALGOL Effort

Huub de Beer

The History of the ALGOL Effort

In 2006 I graduated cum laude from the Computer Science and Engineering program of the Eindhoven University of Technology on my Master thesis on the history of the ALGOL effort. You can download the original thesis as a PDF file or you can read on here:

  1. Introduction—On sources, my own perspective, and the ALGOL effort.
  2. Creation—The start of the ALGOL effort.
  3. Notation—From IAL to ALGOL 60.
  4. Translation—From craftmanship to science.
  5. Succession—In search of a worthy successor to ALGOL 60.
  6. Conclusion—Summary and conclusions.

Furthermore, you can download my bibliographic database on the ALGOL effort as a HTML file or a bibtex file.

ALGOL, more than just ALGOL

Based on my Masters thesis, I wrote a paper on the ALGOL effort in which I argue that the ALGOL effort was a catalyst transforming the emerging field of computing into a science. You can read it here, or as a PDF file.