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Beyond programming languages

Author:

Terry WinogradAuthors Info & Claims

Communications of the ACM, Volume 22, Issue 7

Pages 391 - 401

https://doi.org/10.1145/359131.359133

Published: 01 July 1979 Publication History

Abstract

As computer technology matures, our growing ability to create large systems is leading to basic changes in the nature of programming. Current programming language concepts will not be adequate for building and maintaining systems of the complexity called for by the tasks we attempt. Just as high level languages enabled the programmer to escape from the intricacies of a machine's order code, higher level programming systems can provide the means to understand and manipulate complex systems and components. In order to develop such systems, we need to shift our attention away from the detailed specification of algorithms, towards the description of the properties of the packages and objects with which we build. This paper analyzes some of the shortcomings of programming languages as they now exist, and lays out some possible directions for future research.

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Published In

cover image Communications of the ACM

Communications of the ACM Volume 22, Issue 7

July 1979

51 pages

ISSN:0001-0782

EISSN:1557-7317

DOI:10.1145/359131

Editor:
Robert L. Ashenhurst
Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1979 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 01 July 1979

Published in CACM Volume 22, Issue 7

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