Announcing Algol 68 Genie 3.0
By Marcel van der Veer
December 2021
Published in category Algol 68
More on Algol 68 Genie
More than thirty years ago I started writing my own Algol 68 implementation from scratch, when Algol 68 compilers were proprietary mainframe applications while I moved to local workstations. Twenty years have passed now since I first posted Algol 68 Genie as open source software, and five years since I last posted an updated version.
Since that last version I have continued working on my pet project. I have released the current source as version 3.0. I have also updated the documentation, Learning Algol 68 Genie. The package is developed on Linux, but for Microsoft Windows a precompiled WIN32 binary to be executed from cmd.exe is available.
I increased the version number since the representation of various modes has changed with respect to versions 1 and 2. For example, LONG REAL used to be a software implementation as twenty years ago compilers typically did not support 128-bit floats. A change of representation might give unexpected behaviour of programs that depend on specific internal representation of data.
Version 3.0 offers bindings for more functions from the GNU Scientific Library, as well as for statistical routines from the GNU R stand-alone mathematics library, and adds a generalized incomplete gamma function according a recent algorithm by Abergel and Moisan from the University of Paris.
Version 3.0 incorporates bug fixes reported for the previous version. Although version 3.0 is regression tested, it will contain both old as well as new bugs. As always, I will welcome your comments, remarks, bug reports and proposals. Algol 68 Genie would not have become what it is without the contributions of many persons, for which I want to express my sincere gratitude.
|
{"Languages take such a time, and so do
all the things one wants to know about."
The Lost Road. John Tolkien.}
|
All blog posts
|
|
|
When I was a student in the 1980's, science undergraduates took a course in structured programming at the computer science department … [Read more]
Published in category Computing history
|
|
|
|
There are many recipes around to convert an obsolete PC into a DIY NAS for use on a Windows-machine network. Here is mine, used to convert a deprecated workstation into a decent NAS for backup purposes … [Read more]
Published in category Tech Tips
|
|
|
|
I have released the current source as version 3.0. I have also updated the documentation, Learning Algol 68 Genie … [Read more]
Published in category Algol 68
|
|
|
|
When I was a student, the university computing centre offered VM/CMS and MVS/TSO running on IBM (compatible) mainframes. Nowadays it is possible to run those operating systems in emulation … [Read more]
Published in category Computing history
|
|
|
|
As the author of Algol 68 Genie I am interested in having access to other Algol 68 compilers for reference purposes. Several years ago I wrote a post on installing Algol68C on MVS. In this post I would like to give an update … [Read more]
Published in category Computing history
|
|
|
|
Lately I needed to call on some of my now rusty electronics skills since I came into some older HiFi equipment in need of attention. I consulted the world wide web in search of service manuals and found many more people with an interest in keeping older HiFi in working condition. Now I had the opportunity to combine my passion for electronics, HiFi equipment and music … and do not forget durability, since we are actually extending the life of otherwise obsolete products … [Read more]
Published in category Tech Tips
|
|
|
|
As described in an earlier post, at home I operate a modest Beowulf type cluster for embarrassingly parallel simulation runs in batch mode. With the experience from that build, I took on building a higher-performance cluster using Debian … [Read more]
Published in category Tech Tips
|
|
|
|
Every year my daughter's high school invites parents to partake in an evening of information sessions, to help students orient themselves on their future. The idea is to have parents from all walks of professional life, each parent discussing half an hour or so with small groups of students who subscribed to your sessions. You are expected to tell about your study and career, and the students are supposed to pose questions. As you will expect, some come well prepared, others must be stimulated a bit. I greatly enjoy those conversations with the next generation who have their lives ahead of them … [Read more]
Published in category Education
|
|
|
|
Recently I met during an event at my Alma Mater, the University of Nijmegen, my high school physics teacher. We discussed the chemistry curriculum and remarked that quite some chemistry students capture with difficulty the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. Needless to say that thermodynamics is one of those subjects that serve a chemist for a lifetime. In my humble opinion, one reason for this lack of retention may be the abstraction level in freshmen courses and that this might be improved by spending one or two introductory hours on the basic ideas of thermodynamics in a historic context … [Read more]
Published in category Science
|
|
|
|
Being the author of Algol 68 Genie, people frequently ask me why a physical chemist wrote an Algol 68 compiler. This is an understandable question since people associate Algol 68 with the learned group of mathematicians and computer scientists that conceived the language some fifty years ago and people recall the reputation it had of being a hard to implement language. In this post I would like to give an account of how Algol 68 Genie came to be … [Read more]
Published in category Algol 68
|
|
|
|
At home I operate a modest Beowulf type cluster for embarrassingly parallel simulation runs in batch mode. A master node controls several drones. Nodes in this cluster need no more than a server installation, but if a drone happens to have keyboard, mouse and monitor a small GUI is nice to have. This GUI should be lightweight, otherwise a desktop installation makes more sense. This page demonstrates how to set up a drone with GUI on Ubuntu Server including browser, document reader, image viewer and sound … [Read more]
Published in category Tech Tips
|
|
|
|
Recently, Algol68C Release 1.3039 was made public for download. This release is derived from the compiler that was in service to the mid 1990's on IBM mainframes. The new release is meant to run on either MVT or MVS. This report documents the installation of the new release on emulated MVS/370 … [Read more]
Published in category Computing history
|
|
|
|
This is a translation of the Algol 68 Revised Report into HTML, for distribution with Algol 68 Genie, an Open Source Algol 68 interpreter … [Read more]
Published in category Algol 68
|
|
jmvdveer@xs4all.nl
LinkedIn