The Emperor's Old…
An interesting read on perspectives in early programming language design (ALGO, PL/1 and ADA) the pitfalls, successes and the people who created failure. Also note
An excerpt:
"""
At last, in December 1968, in a mood of black depression, I attended the meeting in Munich at which our long-gestated monster was to come to birth and receive the name ALGOL68. By this time, a number of other members of the group had become disillusioned, but too late: The committee was now packed with supporters of the language, which was sent up for promulgation by the higher committees of IFIP. The best we could do was to send with it a minority report, stating our considered view that, " . . . as a tool for the reliable creation of sophisticated programs, the language was a failure." This report was later suppressed by IFIP, an act which reminds me of the lines of Hilaire Belloc,
But scientists, who ought to know/Assure us that it must be so./ Oh, let us never, never doubt/What nobody is sure about. -
"""
