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Needless to say, the GNU Compiler Collection is a major FOSS package. I have been using it since version 2, and on the 30th of April, version 16.1 was released. For many of us, that will be another upgrade. To people like me, it is a landmark release.
That is because GCC now also includes an Algol 68 compiler, ga68, which implements the Revised Report language plus IFIP WG2.1 approved errata. A POSIX prelude and some GNU extensions are also in place. José Marchesi et alia have done an impressive job building this Algol 68 front end. I can only imagine the complexity of that task, and the effort that must have been put in. A sincere thank you to the ga68 team for this achievement, is in order.
Besides, this is a gratifying moment for me personally. You see, José and his team derived the ga68 parser from my hand-coded Algol 68 Genie parser. I would never have dreamt to see my code appearing in GCC one day, the trusty workhorse that I have been using for 25 years. Somehow it feels like coming full circle - Algol 68 Genie was developed with it, and now in turn a significant part of my work has been integrated into the compiler collection. But isn't this what FOSS is all about - making contributions to building a better world, together?
Published in category Algol 68. More on Algol 68 Genie.
© 2001-2026 J.M. van der Veer
jmvdveer@algol68genie.nl