Report Number: CS-TR-73-403
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Hints on programming language design.
Author: Hoare, C. A. R.
Date: December 1973
Abstract: This paper (based on a keynote address presented at the SIGACT/SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, Boston, October 1-3, 1973) presents the view that a programming language is a tool which should assist the programmer in the most difficult aspects of his art, namely program design, documentation, and debugging. It discusses the objective criteria for evaluating a language design, and illustrates them by application to language features of both high level languages and machine code programming. It concludes with an annotated reading list, recommended for all intending language designers.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/73/403/CS-TR-73-403.pdf