Techreport,
Extension of programming language concepts
0518086. University City Science Center, (November 1968)
Abstract
The aim of the study is to find ways of designing new programming languages which have increased flexibility without also having increased complexity. The work is based on the idea that it is possible to design a language which is truly independent of the hardware characteristics of current computers. A new technique of expressing data values, data elements, and data structures has been developed. The technique provides for the construction of arbitrarily-complex data elements, and for arbitrarily-chosen relationships between data elements. All expressions in a program which cause the language processor to take some action, which includes 'declarations', are viewed as transformations ('procedures'). A basic set of these transformations has been proposed. The most significant demand on machine design which arises from this research is that much more freedom of storage organization is needed than is provided by conventional machines. Large-scale associative memories could be used to provide some of this needed flexibility of storage. Recommendations for further work are presented and an extensive bibliography on programming language, concepts, and design is appended.
