HT de Beer
August 2006
download the whole history of the ALGOL effort as a pdf file (1.1 megabytes)
Besides the perspective in the sources my own perspective is also important to know. I am a twenty-first century computer scientist with no involvement in ALGOL at all. Although the language was mentioned in some courses during my computer science education at the Eindhoven University of Technology, I do not know the language but by name.
The computer science education in Eindhoven focuses on structured programming and designing systems using formal methods. In other words, my perspective is that of an academic computer scientist rather than that of a programmer.
Besides studying computer science, I am also studying History at the University of Utrecht. I am experienced in doing historical research and will combine my knowledge of computer science with my experience in writing history to write this history of the ALGOL effort.