Compilers: Principles and Practice

HISTORICAL NOTES

Since the beginning of the computer era, the development of computer programming languages and their translators have been driven by advances in hardware technologies on one hand and expectations in terms of range, performance – both correctness and efficiency — and complexity of applications on the other hand. The introduction of the following major concepts in programming languages can be linked to development of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th generations of hardware:

• 1940s: Assembly language;
• 1950s: First HLLs: FORTRAN, LISP and COBOL, also ALGOL-60 report — block structuring, identifier scopes;
• 1960s: BNF used to specify a programming language grammar, APL, BASIC and PL/I developed, though APL and PL/I could not become popular;