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Man or boy test
open-in-new
<p>The man or boy test was proposed by computer scientist <a href="/facts/Donald_Knuth/GozNzDM6">Donald Knuth</a> as a means of evaluating implementations of the <a href="/facts/ALGOL_60/QnpxUYQm">ALGOL 60</a> programming language. The aim of the test was to distinguish <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">compilers</a> that correctly implemented "<a href="/facts/Recursion_(computer_science)/2uXo18Gv">recursion</a> and <a href="/facts/Non-local_reference/vNoF8Bn4">non-local references</a>" from those that did not. </p> <blockquote><p>There are quite a few ALGOL60 translators in existence which have been designed to handle recursion and non-local references properly, and I thought perhaps a little test-program may be of value. Hence I have written the following simple routine, which may separate the man-compilers from the boy-compilers.</p>— <a href="/facts/Donald_Knuth/GozNzDM6">Donald Knuth</a></blockquote>