ABC (programming language)
Developer | Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) |
|---|---|
| First appeared | January 1987 |
| Stable release | 1.05.02
/ 1990 |
| Website | homepages |
| Influenced by | |
| SETL, ALGOL 68[1] | |
| Influenced | |
| Python | |
ABC is an imperative general-purpose programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) developed at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Netherlands by Leo Geurts, Lambert Meertens, and Steven Pemberton.[2] It is interactive, structured, high-level, and intended to be used instead of BASIC, Pascal, or AWK. It is intended for teaching or prototyping, but not as a systems-programming language.
ABC had a major influence on the design of the language Python, developed by Guido van Rossum, who formerly worked for several years on the ABC system in the mid-1980s.[3][4]
Features
Its designers claim that ABC programs are typically around a quarter the size of the equivalent Pascal or C programs, and more readable.[5] Key features include:
- Only five basic data types
- No required variable declarations
- Explicit support for top-down programming
- Statement nesting is indicated by indentation, via the off-side rule
- Infinite precision arithmetic, unlimited-sized lists and strings, and other features supporting orthogonality and ease of use by novices
ABC was originally a monolithic implementation, leading to an inability to adapt to new requirements, such as creating a graphical user interface (GUI). ABC could not directly access the underlying file system and operating system.
The full ABC system includes a programming environment with a
Example
An example function to collect the set of all words in a document:
HOW TO RETURN words document:
PUT {} IN collection
FOR line IN document:
FOR word IN split line:
IF word not.in collection:
INSERT word IN collection
RETURN collection
References
- ISBN 978-0-596-51517-1. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
He [Lambert Meertens] was clearly influenced by ALGOL 68's philosophy of providing constructs that can be combined in many different ways to produce all sorts of different data structures or ways of structuring a program. – Guido van Rossum
- S2CID 12788361.
- ^ Hamilton, Naomi (2008-05-08). "The A-Z of Programming Languages: Python". Computerworld. IDG Communications. Archived from the original on 2008-12-29. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
... I figured I could design and implement a language 'almost, but not quite, entirely unlike' ABC, improving upon ABC's deficiencies, ...
- ^ Stewart, Bruce (2002-06-04). "An Interview with Guido van Rossum". ONLamp.com. O’Reilly Media. Archived from the original on 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
... in my head I had analyzed some of the reasons it had failed.
- ^ Pemberton, Steven (2012-02-22). "The ABC Programming Language: a short introduction". Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). Amsterdam. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
External links
| Authority control databases: National |
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