Editing Computer program (section)

====Algol====
[[ALGOL]] (1960) stands for "ALGOrithmic Language". It had a profound influence on programming language design.<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-19">{{cite book
  | last = Wilson
  | first = Leslie B.
  | title = Comparative Programming Languages, Third Edition
  | publisher = Addison-Wesley
  | year = 2001
  | page = 19
  | isbn = 0-201-71012-9
}}</ref> Emerging from a committee of European and American programming language experts, it used standard mathematical notation and had a readable, structured design. Algol was first to define its [[Syntax (programming languages)|syntax]] using the [[Backus–Naur form]].<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-19"/> This led to [[Syntax-directed translation|syntax-directed]] compilers. It added features like:
* [[Block (programming)|block structure]], where variables were local to their block.
* arrays with variable bounds.
* [[For loop|"for" loops]].
* [[Function (computer programming)|functions]].
* [[Recursion (computer science)|recursion]].<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-19"/>

Algol's direct descendants include [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], [[Modula-2]], [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]], [[Delphi (software)|Delphi]] and [[Oberon (programming language)|Oberon]] on one branch. On another branch the descendants include [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]] and [[Java (programming language)|Java]].<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-19"/>