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ALGOL 60
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<p>ALGOL 60 (short for <i>Algorithmic Language 1960</i>) is a member of the <a href="/facts/ALGOL/wlFJGNEx">ALGOL</a> family of computer <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming languages</a>. It followed on from <a href="/facts/ALGOL_58/CbHqs9GR">ALGOL 58</a> which had introduced <a href="/facts/Block_(programming)/E6yG3dnJ">code blocks</a> and the begin and end pairs for delimiting them, representing a key advance in the rise of <a href="/facts/Structured_programming/zA8b8dP1">structured programming</a>. ALGOL 60 was one of the first languages implementing function definitions (that could be invoked recursively). ALGOL 60 function definitions could be <a href="/facts/Nested_function/Rw2xzMLP">nested</a> within one another (which was first introduced by any programming language), with <a href="/facts/Lexical_scope/bbj6AFMo">lexical scope</a>. It gave rise to many other languages, including <a href="/facts/CPL_(programming_language)/WdCSdedV">CPL</a>, <a href="/facts/PL%2fI/469mVYgd">PL/I</a>, <a href="/facts/Simula/gaEVG7SL">Simula</a>, <a href="/facts/BCPL/GkBV2hXy">BCPL</a>, <a href="/facts/B_(programming_language)/b9n2WoNN">B</a>, <a href="/facts/Pascal_(programming_language)/b3yvp8bF">Pascal</a>, and <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>. Practically every computer of the era had a <a href="/facts/Systems_programming_language/KogoSQVR">systems programming language</a> based on ALGOL 60 concepts. </p><p><a href="/facts/Niklaus_Wirth/krsLUB11">Niklaus Wirth</a> based his own <a href="/facts/ALGOL_W/xcgYM80d">ALGOL W</a> on ALGOL 60 before moving to develop <a href="/facts/Pascal_(programming_language)/b3yvp8bF">Pascal</a>. Algol-W was intended to be the next generation ALGOL but the <a href="/facts/ALGOL_68/NTnc9fy7">ALGOL 68</a> committee decided on a design that was more complex and advanced rather than a cleaned simplified ALGOL 60. The official ALGOL versions are named after the year they were first published. ALGOL 68 is substantially different from ALGOL 60 and was criticised partially for being so, so that in general "ALGOL" refers to dialects of ALGOL 60. </p>