Editing ALGOL 68 (section)

{{Short description|Programming language}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name = ALGOL 68
| logo = Algol68RevisedReportCover.jpg
| logo caption = Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language – Algol 68 Edited by: A. van Wijngaarden et al, September 1973<ref name="Wijngaarden_1976"/>
| paradigms = [[Multi-paradigm programming language|Multi-paradigm]]: [[Concurrent programming language|concurrent]], [[Imperative programming|imperative]]
| family = [[ALGOL]]
| designers = [[Adriaan van Wijngaarden|A. van Wijngaarden]], [[Barry J. Mailloux|B. J. Mailloux]], [[John E. L. Peck|J. E. L. Peck]] and [[Cornelis H. A. Koster|C. H. A. Koster]], et al.
| developer =
| released = Final Report: {{Start date and age|1968}}<sup>[[#The language of the unrevised report|r0]]</sup>
| latest release version = Algol 68/RR
| latest release date = Revised Report: {{Start date and age|1973}}<sup>[[#Revisions|r1]]</sup>
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date =
| typing = [[Type system#Type checking|static]], [[Strong and weak typing|strong]], [[Type system#Safely and unsafely typed systems|safe]], [[Structural type system|structural]]
| scope = [[Scope (computer science)|Lexical]]
| implementations = [[ALGOL 68C]], Algol 68 Genie (recent), [[ALGOL 68-R]], [[ALGOL 68RS]], [[ALGOL 68S]], [[FLACC]], [[:ru:Алгол 68|Алгол 68 Ленинград/Leningrad Unit]], [[Odra (computer)|Odra ALGOL 68]]
| dialects = ALGOL 68/FR (Final Report<sup>[[#The language of the unrevised report|r0]]</sup>)
| influenced by = [[ALGOL 60]], [[ALGOL Y]]
| influenced =
[[C (programming language)|C]],<ref name="a68-c1"/><ref name="a68-c2"/> [[C++]],<ref name="a68-c++">{{cite web |date=March 1993 |title=A History of C++: 1979−1991 |url=http://www.research.att.com/~bs/hopl2.pdf |at=Page 12, 2nd paragraph: Algol68 [gave] operator overloading(§3.3.3), references (§3.3.4), and the ability to declare variables anywhere in a block (§3.3.1) |access-date=2008-05-06}}</ref> [[Bourne shell]], [[KornShell]], [[Bash (Unix shell)|Bash]], [[Steelman language requirements|Steelman]], [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]],<ref name="a68-python">{{cite web |url=http://www.amk.ca/python/writing/gvr-interview |title=Interview with Guido van Rossum |date=July 1998 |access-date=2007-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501105422/http://www.amk.ca/python/writing/gvr-interview |archive-date=2007-05-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Seed7]], [[Mary (programming language)|Mary]], [[S3 (programming language)|S3]]
| website = {{URL|algol68-lang.org}}
}}
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'''ALGOL 68''' (short for ''Algorithmic Language 1968'') is an [[imperative programming|imperative]] [[programming language]] member of the [[ALGOL]] family that was conceived as a successor to the [[ALGOL 60]] language, designed with the goal of a much wider scope of application and more rigorously defined [[Syntax (programming languages)|syntax]] and semantics.

The complexity of the language's definition, which runs to several hundred pages filled with non-standard terminology, made [[compiler]] implementation difficult and it was said it had "no implementations and no users". This was only partly true; ALGOL 68 did find use in several niche markets, notably in the [[United Kingdom]] where it was popular on [[International Computers Limited]] (ICL) machines, and in teaching roles. Outside these fields, use was relatively limited.

Nevertheless, the contributions of ALGOL 68 to the field of [[computer science]] have been deep, wide-ranging and enduring, although many of these contributions were only publicly identified when they had reappeared in subsequently developed programming languages. Many languages were developed specifically as a response to the perceived complexity of the language, the most notable being [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], or were reimplementations for specific roles, like [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]].

Many languages of the 1970s trace their design specifically to ALGOL 68, selecting some features while abandoning others that were considered too complex or out-of-scope for given roles. Among these is the language [[C (programming language)|C]], which was directly influenced by ALGOL 68, especially by its [[Strong and weak typing|strong typing]] and structures. Most modern languages trace at least some of their syntax to either C or Pascal, and thus directly or indirectly to ALGOL 68.