By Lionello A. Lombardi
Communications of the ACM,
February 1964,
Vol. 7 No. 2, Pages 104-111
10.1145/363921.363939
Comments
The structure of a digital computer programming language which covers a wide class of business and file processing applications is presented. Such a structure, based on identifying and incorporating into a compiler the aspects common to all processes of such class, permits writing extremely compact programs, even for comparatively complex applications, in terms of tables of control expressions which express only information characteristic of the particular application. Furthermore, local changes of a process (e.g. changes affecting only one of the output files involved) can be effected by local modifications in the program (e.g. modification of only one entry of the tables). This structure also allows for inexpensive preparation of loading-speed compilers which translate the source programs into efficient machine codes.
The approach adopted here departs from conventional mechanical language design philosophies. It stresses the structural analysis of the class of processes to be represented in the languages, as opposed to emphasizing formal (i.e., contents-independent) syntactical definitions. It relies exclusively on nonprocedural representation of processes as sets (tables) of relations between data and results (there are no control statements such as GO TO, etc.), instead of using procedure descriptions (which are one-to-one translations of flowcharts). Here an invariant pattern of procedure is identified as characteristic of the class of all batch file processes.
The full text of this article is premium content
No entries found
Log in to Read the Full Article
Need Access?
Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.
Create a Web Account
If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.
Join the ACM
Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.
Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine
Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.
Purchase the Article
Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.
