SPIL: A language for construction of reliable system software

Structured programming is gaining wide acceptance as a technique for increasing the reliability and understandability of software. Nowhere is the need for better software felt more keenly than in the area of systems programming. In the near future it is likely that systems will be programmed in stru...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:SIGPLAN notices 1973-09, Vol.8 (9), p.100-103
Main Authors: Liskov, Barbara H., Smith, Leroy A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Structured programming is gaining wide acceptance as a technique for increasing the reliability and understandability of software. Nowhere is the need for better software felt more keenly than in the area of systems programming. In the near future it is likely that systems will be programmed in structured programming languages, just as systems have been programmed in higher level languages in the past. This paper describes SPIL: a structured programming language intended to be used for system design and implementation. The paper discusses how the objectives of structured programming and system programming may be realized in a programming language, and delineates the influence of the objectives on the design of SPIL. The most important features of the language are briefly described. The paper concludes by evaluating SPIL as a language for system design and implementation.
ISSN:0362-1340
1558-1160
DOI:10.1145/390014.808292