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Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The joy of FORTRAN Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:25:05 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 18 Message-ID: <vd7esh$tdq8$6@dont-email.me> References: <pan$96411$d204da43$cc34bb91$1fe98651@linux.rocks> <5mqdnZuGq4lgwm_7nZ2dnZfqnPSdnZ2d@earthlink.com> <vcub5c$36h63$1@dont-email.me> <1r0e6u9.1tubjrt1kapeluN%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <vcuib9$37rge$5@dont-email.me> <6tDIO.25202$afc4.3071@fx42.iad> <vcva2s$3bcrt$6@dont-email.me> <vd6thh$lf8o$2@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2024 01:25:06 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="2132f4845d2292b1a04f05d8b30f9975"; logging-data="964424"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18lSr6kYG9+dkcNTCv5KDBC" User-Agent: Pan/0.160 (Toresk; ) Cancel-Lock: sha1:npB/OdNbXzcEskcU4v27gmc8QoQ= Bytes: 2168 On Fri, 27 Sep 2024 19:29:05 +0100, Andy Walker wrote: > People complained about the size of the A68 reports, but that was > before they saw the modern C standards, which still don't define C in > the sort of formality that A68 achieved. I, too, wondered at the time why more people didn’t feel that the Algol 68 spec was an important step forward in formal language definition. But then, look at how plain-language descriptions have actually been made to work over the past few decades: a common strategy is to require the existence of two independently-created implementations that demonstrate interoperability from the same spec, as an indication that the spec is sufficiently clear and free of bugs to be worth finalizing. We do this not just with programming languages (all the ones in current use), but with things like file formats and network protocol specs as well -- look at the “RFC” series of documents from the IETF, for example.