2005 · Languages & software
ALGOL 60 helped make programming-language definition a shared discipline.
Visual guide
Define the language’s grammar.
Build a compiler from the definition.
Use a common programming vocabulary.
Common definitions help a language travel between implementations and become a shared object of study.
Knowing the syntax is only part of understanding a program; meaning and the programmer’s model also matter.
01 · The idea
Peter Naur played a central role in the ALGOL 60 report and contributed to language design and compiler construction. A precise description of syntax lets different implementers agree on which programs belong to a language. His broader work examined programming as a human activity as well as a formal one.
Common definitions help a language travel between implementations and become a shared object of study.
02 · The people
Peter Naur helped define ALGOL 60 and edited its influential language report, making precise language description central to programming. He also worked on compilers and on the practical understanding of how programmers develop software. Originally trained as an astronomer, he became a leading figure in Danish computing at the University of Copenhagen. His later writing emphasized the human activity of programming and questioned purely formal accounts of it.
Read the biography ↗03 · Read further
Original explanations based on the official award record. The subject label is an editorial navigation aid.
Automata, grammars and algorithms helped make compilers teachable and dependable.
The story
Abstraction lets a system change inside while preserving its promises outside.
The story