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| Developer(s) | Stephen Bourne, Michael Guy, Andrew D. Birrell, Ian Walker, Chris Cheney, et al. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | circa 1970 |
| Stable release | 1.3039
/ March 3, 2013 |
| Written in | ALGOL 68 |
| Operating system | IBM 360, 370, etc., mainframes (or emulations) running MVT or MVS |
| Type | Compiler, translator |
| Website | bitbucket |
ALGOL 68C is an imperative computer programming language, a dialect of ALGOL 68, that was developed by Stephen R. Bourne and Michael Guy to program the Cambridge Algebra System (CAMAL). The initial compiler was written in the Princeton Syntax Compiler (PSYCO, by Edgar T. Irons) that was implemented by J. H. Mathewman at Cambridge.
ALGOL 68C was later used for the CHAOS OS for the capability-based security CAP computer at University of Cambridge in 1971. Other early contributors were Andrew D. Birrell[1] and Ian Walker.
Subsequent work was done on the compiler after Bourne left Cambridge University in 1975. Garbage collection was added, and the code base is still running[clarification needed] on an emulated OS/MVT using Hercules.
The ALGOL 68C compiler generated output in ZCODE, a register-based intermediate language, which could then be either interpreted or compiled to a native executable. This ability to interpret or compile ZCODE encouraged the porting of ALGOL 68C to many different computing platforms. Aside from the CAP computer, the compiler was ported to systems including Conversational Monitor System (CMS), TOPS-10, and Zilog Z80.
- ^ Birrell, Andrew D. (December 1977). "System Programming in a High Level Language" (PDF). Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2007-04-22.