Specification languages for mechanical languages and their processors a baker's dozen

This paper is being submitted simultaneously to the membership of the ACM and to the ASA X3.4 Subcommittee on Programming Language Standardization. Dr. Gorn heads Working Group X3.4.1, which is charged with the responsibility of establishing standards for the description of programming languages. It is this Departmevt's impression that some people are searching for an ideal programming language which will serve all users, for all purposes, on all machines. We feel that such a goal is not likely to be reached in the foreseeable future. We also feel, however, that the computing art has now proqressed to a point where computer users can and will recognize the economic justifiability of attaining general understanding of precisely what certain particular programming languages consist of. In short, the computing community has now matured to a point where we should recognize the need for discipline and clarity in communication among humans, relative to communication between humans and machines. In contributing to the technique of language specification, this paper aids language development .-H.S.B.

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