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I adopt the point of view that an ideal language contains features well-matched to the abstract concepts which the problem-solving programmer uses in his own thinking. I also assume that the modifiability of programs is of paramount importance. The features below are not necessarily listed in order of importance; an ideal general-purpose programming language should probably have all of them because...
There is no doubt about it, structured programming (SP) is making waves. Wherever one goes within the computing community people are asking what it is and how they can use it. And the answers they are receiving are sometimes very different. This inability to pin down a precise definition has caused the original concept of SP to become widely distorted. For example, a recent advertisement described...
The two projects described here were developed at aine, Farber & Gordon, Inc. using structured programming, although neither project represents a first attempt on our part at using these techniques. (We began using SP techniques in 1970.)
This paper describes some software packages and programming systems for computer graphics applications, in the process considering software features for both passive and interactive graphics. It examines the structure both of subroutine libraries for use with some base language and of complete programming languages, and outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each, along with facilities that...
This special issue on minicomputer systems in business is motivated by my personal philosophy of computing. I call this philosophy the common computer attitude. This attitude has come about because systems are being dispersed into local standalone systems or as local stations that are part of networked mini/microcomputer systems. The user is less knowledgeable and yet intensely involved in such local...
This paper focuses on a key issue in operating system design that has hitherto received no explicit attention in the literature–file input/output control logic. Particular attention is concentrated on two well-known systems: the IBM System/360 under OS, and the Burroughs 1700 under the Master Control Program.
No application programmer writes machine-language programs–i.e., strings of ones and zeroes. That primitive pursuit has long been reserved for those few who create the very first modules of a software system for new hardware. Instead, programmers make use of a wide spectrum of symbolic programming languages, ranging from assembly code to high-level languages such as Fortran, Cobol, and the Algol family...
Microcomputers, as a class of programmable machines, are rather uncomfortable and difficult to program, and are even more unpleasant as the target machines for programming languages. This need not be so.
Those of us who have worked with stack computers for several years have found an unending source of amazement –and some consternation–in how few computer professionals there are who seem aware that there is an entirely different approach to computer architecture from the familiar von Neumann model. Sometimes when such phrases as "zero-address machine" have dropped from my lips, and I see...
Many computer hardware description languages have been introduced to describe and model digital networks at the register transfer level.1-3Most CHDL's, however, like common programming languages, are "text oriented" and employ textual statements in the specification of a digital system. The process of converting a word statement problem into a description written in a design language is...
Just as Software designers use high-level languages like Algol, Fortran, PL/I, and Snobol to express algorithms in terms of language statements, so digital hardware designers use hardware description languages to describe the digital systems they want to design. But whereas compilers for many high-level programming languages have been developed and implemented, the process of transforming a high-level...
The life cycle of a mechanical component from its first conceptualization to its final packaging involves many intermediate processes such as product definition, engineering analysis, manufacturing planning, material procurement, and production control. These processes, of course, can be further broken down to finer steps or operations, but what is important to note is how these processes interact...
There is an art to the practice of any science, a point argued cogently by Donald E. Knuth,1author of the series of volumes deliberately titled The Art of Computer Programming. If "science" is knowledge which has been logically arranged and systematically codified, then "art" refers to the use of personal skill, guided by a sense of aesthetics, in applying these organized principles,...
Various methodologies have been used to control the high–and rising–cost of developing software products. Among these, one technique that has proved effective entails constructing programs from small, well-defined modules. This technique, called modular programming, can be used in any programming language; however, without language support to enforce module boundaries, errors often occur.
DoD's common programming language effort is aimed at reducing the development and maintenance cost and improving the quality of software for embedded computer systems. Here is a brief review of the background, scope, goals, and methods of that effort.
The solution of many large computational problems is an inherently concurrent process. But most existing computing systems are inherently sequential. This mismatch may be overcome by data-flow computing.
With a number of standards organizations involved in the effort, the Pascal community may obtain a recognized standard later this year. The draft definition is presented here.
Successful industrial design gracefully unites esthetics and function at minimum cost. However, designers face special problems when they apply their skills to interactive computer systems.
The language features selected affect the difficulty of the programming process. Proper choices of variables referenced and those "alive" per statement may simplify both program construction and maintenance.
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