Though it looks only useful for the listing and factual description of languages at that time:

47[12].- -JEAN E. SAMMET, Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals,
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1969, xxx $ 785 pp., 24 cm. Price
$18.00 ($13.50 student edition).
Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals is a monumental and encyclopedic
treatment of its field. The primary aim of the book, as stated by the
author, is to provide, ". . . in one place, and in a consistent fashion, fundamental
information on programming languages, including history, general characteristics,
similarities,'and differences." This aim has without doubt been achieved, and achieved
well. A second aim is"... to provide specific basic information on all the significant,
and most of the minor, higher level languages developed in the United States." This
aim also has been achieved; there is an impressive collection of about 120 languages
described in varying amounts of detail.
The book is organized into three introductory chapters, six chapters on languages
grouped more or less according to application areas, and two chapters on unimplemented concepts and future long-range developments. The organization is well
thought out and suits the author's purposes admirably. The first chapter is devoted
to defining what is meant by a programming language, to pros and cons of higherlevel
languages, to classifying and categorizing languages, and to a presentation of
factors influencing the choice of a language. Omitted from consideration are most
European programming languages, and certain languages that are not, by the
author's definition, higher-level programming languages, e.g., Report Generator,
Autocoder, APL and SLIP. The second and third chapters are devoted to describing
functional and technical characteristics of programming languages, partly with the
aim of developing a format for the later discussions of specific languages. Functional
characteristics, roughly, are the historical, political, economic, and pragmatic
aspects of a language, i.e., those that are not part of its definition. Technical characteristics
have to do with the actual syntax and semantics of the language. This
outline of discussion is spelled out in some detail and generally adhered to in the
sequel. The fact that approximately equal amounts of space are devoted to functional
and technical characteristics is an indicator of the tone of the discussion. The
author does not attempt to teach the reader how to program in any of the languages
discussed, and indeed, one certainly would not learn programming from this book.
As a reference work for background on specific programming languages, the
book is a success. As a textbook on programming languages as a field of study, it
is not. The tone of the introductory chapters is too platitudinous, and the technical
information, both in depth and in organization, is inadequate to the task of imparting
a feeling for what programming languages are all about. The difficulty is that
this feeling can ultimately be achieved only by actually writing programs in various
languages and thus coming to appreciate their fine points. Thus, the uniformity of
organization across languages is achieved at the cost of omitting really deep examination
of a few of them. The chapter on technical characteristics attempts to raise
the issues of what choices a language designer must make, but the question of how,
historically, they have been made is scattered among the different language discussions
and never really explored in depth. Questions such as scoping rules, extensibility,
and the structuring of data aggregates are never treated in a unified way, and
the material on minor languages and on functional characteristics tends to deemphasize
the importance of the technical characteristics of the major languages.
There are no exercises in the book, and, indeed, the material provides no basis for
exercises.
In summary: Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals is a fine source
for factual knowledge, but a poor source for gaining understanding.
PAUL ABRAHAMS