1. <
computer>
Atanasoff-Berry Computer.
2. <
language> An
imperative language and programming
environment from
CWI, Netherlands. It is interactive,
structured, high-level, and easy to learn and use. It is a
general-purpose language which you might use instead of
BASIC,
Pascal or
AWK. It is not a systems-programming
language but is good for teaching or prototyping.
ABC has only five data types that can easily be combined;
strong typing, yet without declarations; data limited only
by memory; refinements to support top-down programming;
nesting by indentation. Programs are typically around a
quarter the size of the equivalent
Pascal or
C program,
and more readable.
ABC includes a programming environment with
syntax-directed
editing,
suggestions,
persistent variables and multiple
workspaces and
infinite precision arithmetic.
An example function words to collect the set of all words in a
document:
HOW TO RETURN words document:
PUT {} IN collection
FOR line in document:
FOR word IN split line:
IF word not.in collection:
INSERT word IN collection
RETURN collection
Interpreter/
compiler, version 1.04.01, by Leo Geurts,
Lambert Meertens, Steven Pemberton <
Steven.Pemberton@cwi.nl>.
ABC has been ported to
Unix,
MS-DOS,
Atari,
Macintosh.
http://cwi.nl/cwi/projects/abc.html.
abc">FTP eu.net (ftp://ftp.eu.net/programming/languages/abc),
abc">FTP nluug.nl (ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/programming/languages/abc),
abc">FTP uunet (ftp://ftp.uu.net/languages/abc).
Mailing list: <
abc-list-request@cwi.nl>.
E-mail: <
abc@cwi.nl>.
[
"The ABC Programmer's Handbook" by Leo Geurts, Lambert
Meertens and Steven Pemberton, published by Prentice-Hall
(ISBN 0-13-000027-2)].
[
"An Alternative Simple Language and Environment for PCs" by
Steven Pemberton, IEEE Software, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1987,
pp. 56-64.]
(1995-02-09)
2. <
language> Argument, Basic value, C?.
An
abstract machine for implementation of {functional
languages} and its intermediate code.
[
P. Koopman, "Functional Programs as Executable
Specifications", 1990].
(1995-02-09)