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Tag Tag Language design
Here is a language so far ahead of its time that it was not only an improvement on its predecessors but also on nearly all its successors.
Tony Hoare Hints on Programming-Language Design · 1974

Quotes

“I was eventually persuaded of the need to design programming notations so as to maximize the number of errors which cannot be made, or if made, can be reliably detected at compile time.”

Tony Hoare · The Emperor’s Old Clothes, 1981 · Primary source

Works

Tony Hoare · 1974
Hints on Programming-Language Design

Practical advice on designing programming languages, arguing that they should prioritise simplicity, reliability and the needs of the programmer over elaborate features.

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Tony Hoare · 2009
Null References: The Billion Dollar Mistake

A talk in which Hoare reflects on his 1965 invention of the null reference, calling it a mistake that caused decades of costly software errors.

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Related Tags

ALGOL 60 1 Programming languages 4 Innovation 6 Progress 6 Error prevention 1 Reliability 12 Compile-time checking 1 Safety 1 Simplicity 24 Readability 1 Null references 1 Software errors 2 Algol w 1