• Computer History Museum, Lot X4100.2007. PDF
• English translation by William S. Faught. Computer History Museum, Lot X4100.2007. PDF
• Wiley Online Library

''This report gives the technical specifications of a programming language proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Languages of the Association for Computing Machinery. ...

The objectives of the Ad Hoc Committee in designing the language described herein were to provide a language suitable for:

(1) publication of computing procedures in a concise and widely understood notation,

and

(2) accurate and convenient programming of computing procedures in a language mechanically translatable into machine programs for a variety of machines."

"The ALGOL Bulletin, the European medium for disseminating ALGOL intensive matters, was established at a subsequent European conference in Copenhagen in 1959, and the first of its issues appeared that March. Peter Naur of the Danish Regnecentralen was its first editor." [Perlis, HOPL paper, 1981]

Abstract: "The value of such a common language for easy and precise intercommunication has been felt since some time. This is demonstrated by the existence of users' associations (SHARE, USE), which however have solved the communication problem only on the basis of their special computer language. It seemed obvious for practical reasons that a common language could not even be a special computer oriented language, favouring more or less one or some of the existing, in their computer language to a considerable amount differing computers. Without doubt a universal computer oriented language (UNCOL) has importance for a number of technical intercommunication problems including the translation process from a common language to computer languages; but it was felt by the Zűrich Conference that a common language for numerical analysis and for the use of computers in scientific computation should be as close as possible to common mathematical notation, the more as this is already a unifying clement. There was no question that the language like FORTRAN should be an operational constructive language (its semantic meaning being a sequence of operations in real time defined in a constructive way), in order to make it possible to execute the language by a computer or to translate it mechanically into a special computers' language. This excludes, of course, all intentional (implicit definition using) parts of mathematical notation. But special attention has been given by the Conference to the possibilities of using free constructive definitions for numerical procedures as a counterpart to the idea of sub-routines and library routines. Thus the wanted language presents itself as an algorithmic language (ALGOL) in the sense of RUTISHAUSER'S early idea, being a special problem-oriented language. It was the task of the conference to standardize the arithmetic notation and to supplement it in order to make it completely operational."

• Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Processing, UNESCO, Paris, June 1959, pages 125-132. PDF / Abstract at unesdoc.unesco.org
• Typewritten preprint. PDF

"Only in October 1959, during a second phase of studying Backus's Paris report, did I penetrate through his formal, syntactic description. This made me realize that his notation would be a highly valuable tool for the kind of description that I had in mind." [Naur, HOPL paper, 1981]

Abstract: "This paper considers a universal language designed for use by scientists whose sole concern is to solve their problems rapidly, without regard to the technical difficulties in coding for different types of computer. Such a language must therefore be quick and easy to learn, suitable for the formulation of all scientific problems, and usable with any sufficiently powerful machine. It begins by making a rapid analysis of the results obtained with existing systems of automatic programming-none of which, despite the progress made, have yet escaped from programming conventions imposed by the computer.

It then discusses the conditions which any proposed universal language must fulfil in order to serve this purpose; in particular, clarity of script, flexibility of use and ease of learning are all essential. In the light of these criteria, the authors examine the algorithmic language proposed at the Zurich conference (27 May to 2 June 1958). The universal language now proposed is based on the classification of mathematical entities which was adopted at that conference. Although it retains certain features of the algorithmic system, it embodies some differences in the forms used for transcribing the programme components, and proposes a new method of drafting.

This language is designed to meet the needs of scientists only, and makes no claim to be exhaustive; but its structure is such that it could be incorporated in an 'expanded' language suitable for the drafting of all matter in the field of information processing."

"Automatic programming (AP) is concerned with transforming problem oriented command languages into machine language codes. The solution of a problem generally begins with the statement of an algorithm which must be given in some notation, preferably one which provides full operational and descriptive power and uses an optimum number of symbols. The need to transform this into machine code itself leads to algorithms which should be written in a problem oriented language. This gives a recurrence procedure and implies that a few problem-oriented languages are sufficient." Short items by Perlis, Holt, Huskey, Kobrinski, Poyen, Riesel, and Bauer & Samelson, followed by a discussion.

"The object of this note is to advocate that the IAL language be extended to include two additional notations: conditional expressions and recursive definitions."

"One last thing I'd like to add is that Peter Naur's conduct of the ALGOL Bulletin and his incredible preparation for that Paris meeting [January 11-16, 1960] in which ALGOL was all written down already in his notebook--he changed it a little bit in accordance with the wishes of the committee, but it was that stuff that really made ALGOL the language that it is, and it wouldn't have even come about, I don't think, had he not done that. [Backus, HOPL Q&A, 1981]

• Numerische Mathematik, Volume 2, Number 1 (December 1960), pages 106-136. SpringerLink
• Acta Polytechnica Scandinavica, Applied Mathematics and Computing Machinery No. 5 (AP 284, 1960), typewritten, 39 pages. PDF at eah-jena.de via archive.org
• Communications of the ACM, Volume 3, Number 5 (May 1960).
  • As originally appearing in the May 1960 issue, pages 299-314. PDF at eah-jena.de via archive.org
  • "With typographical corrections as of June 28, 1960". PDF ACM Digital Library
• German translation by I. O. Kerner. Published as supplement to Elektronische Rechenanlagen and also by Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1962. PDF at eah-jena.de via archive.org

"In this paper some of the more obscure features of the language are considered and their usefulness is discussed."

"NOTE: This Report is published in the Communications of the ACM, in Numerische Mathematik, and in the Computer Journal. Reproduction of this Report for any purpose is explicitly permitted; reference should be made to this issue of the Communications and to the respective issues of Numerische Mathematik and the Computer Journal as the source."

• Communications of the ACM, Volume 6, Number 1 (January 1963), pages 1-17. PDF / ACM Digital Library
• Numerische Mathematik, Volume 4, Number 1 (December 1962), pages 420-453. SpringerLink
• The Computer Journal, Volume 5, Number 4 (1963), pages 349-367. Oxford Academic
• Version from Algol Manual der ALCOR Gruppe. PDF at eah-jena.de via archive.org
• Corrected reprint. A/S Regnecentralen, Copenhagen, 1964. PDF at datamuseum.dk

• Fraser G. Duncan. Communications of the ACM, Volume 6, Number 10 (October 1963), page 595-599. ACM Digital Library
• European Computer Manufacturers Association. ECMA Standard for a Subset of ALGOL 60, 1965. PDF at ECMA

• MR57, Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1963. Online at cwi.nl
• In Annual Review in Automatic Programming, Volume 3, edited by R. Goodman, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1963, pages 17-26. ScienceDirect

• Numerische Mathematik, Volume 6, Number 1 (December 1964), pages 454-458. SpringerLink
• Communications of the ACM, Volume 7, Number 10, (October 1964), pages 626-628. ACM Digital Library

• In: T. B. Steel, Jr. (editor). Formal Language Description Languages for Computer Programming : Proceedings of IFIP Technical Committee 2 Working Conference (September 15-18, 1964, Vienna). North Holland, Amsterdam, 1966, pages 13-24.
• MR 79, Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1966. Online at cwi.nl

• Numerische Mathematik, Volume 6, Number 1 (December 1964), pages 459-462. SpringerLink
• Communications of the ACM, Volume 7, Number 10, (October 1964), pages 628-630. ACM Digital Library

• Technical Report CS20, Computer Science Department, Stanford University, April 27, 1965. Online at infolab.stanford.edu
• Part 1: Communications of the ACM, Volume 9, Number 1 (January 1966), pages 13-25. ACM Digital Library
• Part 2: Communications of the ACM, Volume 9, Number 2 (February 1966), pages 89-99. ACM Digital Library

• WG 2.1 Working Paper, October 1965.
• ALGOL Bulletin, Number 21 (November 1965), pages 39-69. CHM ACM Digital Library
• Lectures presented at The NATO Summer School, Villard-de-Lans, September 12-16, 1966. Computer History Museum, Lot X4100.2007. PDF at computerhistory.org
• In: F. Genuys, editor. Programming Languages, Academic Press, 1968, pages 291-347.

"1.1. The Working Group 2.1 on ALGOL was set up in 1962 (at the time of the revision of ALGOL 60) by the Technical Committee on Programming Languages (TC2) of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP), with the intention of working on a successor to ALGOL 60 (then called ALGOL 6X) which was to be more general and comprehensive, yet simpler, and still intended for scientific calculations. (Membership of WG 2.1 is on an individual basis rather than by National Society as for TC2. The Chairman is Prof. van der Poel of the Netherlands. Average attendance is 20, plus observers.)

1.2 Preparation of proposals for Input/0utput (1) and for subsets of ALGOL 60, (2) now completed, occupied most of the first three meetings of WG2.1.

1.3 At the fourth meeting (Sept. 1964) it was decided to defer the more ambitious generalizations under the heading "ALGOL Y", and to keep to short-term improvements for "ALGOL X" (3). Proposals were to be published in the ALGOL Bulletin before consideration by the Working Group.

1.4 By the time of the Princeton meeting in May 1965 (before the New York Congress) extensive practical trials had been made by N. Wirth and H. Weber of Stanford University of a generalization of ALGOL 60 called EULER (4), using syntax directed methods. Progress in the means of language definition was also reported by J. W. de Bakker (5), working with A. van Wijngaarden (6) at the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam, but his method was not adopted by the group.

It was then decided that any member who wished to do so should incorporate his understanding of the agreements of the Working Group in a draft proposal for ALGOL X which would be considered at the sixth meeting in October 1965.

N. Wirth, G. Seegmüller (Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich), and A. van Wijngaarden submitted such drafts, and these were discussed in October, together with comments received by Wirth on his draft circulated earlier to the Group. van Wijngaarden's report was primarily on a system of language definition, illustrated by a possible ALGOL X as vehicle of expression.

The most extensive comment on Wirth's proposal came from C. A. R. Hoare (of Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd.) who proposed an additional feature for "Record Handling" (7), to replace the somewhat unsatisfactory idea of tree-structured data suggested in Princeton.

Wirth and Hoare are publishing (December 1965) an amalgamation of their work, as a separate unofficial document, and so also is van Wijngaarden publishing his.

1.5 The Working Group appointed a subcommittee of four, namely van Wijngaarden, Wirth, Seegmüller and Hoare, to agree among themselves on a proposal for ALGOL X, based upon advice given to them by the rest of the Group at the October meeting, and this will be given final approval at the next meeting of WG.2.1 in April 1966. The first draft would in fact be written by van Wijngaarden using his method of definition.

..."

"Euler caught the attention of the IFIP Working Group that was engaged in planning the future of ALGOL. The language ALGOL 60, designed by and for numerical mathematicians, had a systematic structure and a concise definition that were appreciated by mathematically trained people but lacked compilers and support by industry. To gain acceptance, its range of application had to be widened. The Working Group assumed the task of proposing a successor and soon split into two camps. On one side were the ambitious who wanted to erect another milestone in language design, and, on the other, those who felt that time was pressing and that an adequately extended ALGOL 60 would be a productive endeavor. I belonged to this second party and submitted a proposal that lost the election. Thereafter, the proposal was improved with contributions from Tony Hoare (a member of the same group) and implemented on Stanford University's first IBM 360. The language later became known as ALGOL W and was used in several universities for teaching purposes." [Wirth 1985]

• Online at cwi.nl HTML at CHM ACM Digital Library
• Slides from talk on this version of the report. January 1968. PDF

• Chapters 1-9. Online at cwi.nl
• Chapters 10-12. Online at cwi.nl

• MR101, Mathematisch Centrum. Second printing, October 1969. Online at cwi.nl

"We regard the current Report on Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68 as the fruit of an effort to apply a methodology for language definition to a newly designed programming language. We regard the effort as an experiment and professional honesty compels us to state that in our considered opinion we judge the experiment to be a failure in both respects."

• Technical Report TR 74-3, Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, March 1974. First printing; errata published in ALGOL Bulletin AB37.5 (July 1974), AB38.5.1 (December 1974), and AB39.5.1 (February 1976).
• Acta Informatica, Volume 5, Number 1-3 (1975), pages 1-236. Online at cwi.nl SpringerLink
• Tract 50, Mathematisch Centrum. Online at cwi.nl
• SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 12, Number 5 (May 1977), pages 1-70. ACM Digital Library
• I. O. Kerner (translator). Revidierter bericht űber die algorithmische sprache ALGOL 68. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1978.
• A. A. Bahrs (translator) and A. P. Ershov (editor), Peresmotrenoye So'obszczeniye ob ALGOLE 68. Izdatelstvo "MIR", Moscow, 1979.
• Lu Ru Qian (translator). 算法语言 ALGOL68 修改报告. Beijing, Science Press, August 1982.
• Edition with authorized errata through 1978. ALGOL Bulletin, Supplement to Number 47 (August 1981), pages 1-119. PDF CHM ACM Digital Library
• Wilhelm Kloke (translator). HTML translation, April 2001. HTML at burks.bton.ac.uk via the Internet Archive
• Marcel van der Veer (translator). Completed and corrected version of Kloke's translation, July 2012. Online at jmvdveer.home.xs4all.nl
• J. E. L. Peck? Slides from talk on the revised report. Date and location unknown. PDF

• Nederlands Normalisatie-instituut. PDF
• The Computer Journal, Volume 19, Number 4 (November 1976), pages 364-379. Oxford Journals
• Online at masswerk.at

• ALGOL Bulletin, Supplement to Issue 39, February 1976, pages 1-15. 600dpi scan from original galley. PDF
• SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 12, Number 5 (May 1977), pages 71-79. ACM Digital Library

• Full book. PDF
• Table of Contents only. PDF
• Syntax Charts only. PDF