Lambda the Ultimate

A History of CLU
started 7/4/2001; 11:39:30 AM - last post 7/8/2001; 8:36:09 AM

7/4/2001; 11:39:30 AM (reads: 2389, responses: 1)

A History of CLU

This is a retrospective by Barbara Liskov, the primary designer of the CLU programming language. CLU was primarily developed as a tool to build Abstract Data Types using modules (aka clusters) and was highly influential in the development of programming languages. Recommended reading for anyone interested in language design issues.

CLU has been influential on programming languages both directly and indirectly. Many of the features of CLU were novel; in addition to the support for data abstraction through clusters, there are iterators, the exception mechanism, and the mechanism for polymetric polymorphism. These ideas have had an important impact on programming language design and CLU’s novel features have made their way into many modern languages. Among the languages influenced by CLU are Ada, C++, ML, Modula 3, and Trellis/Owl.
Posted to history by Chris Rathman on 7/4/01; 11:42:17 AM

Ehud Lamm - Re: A History of CLU

7/8/2001; 8:36:09 AM (reads: 1311, responses: 0)

Thanks. I didn't know there was a public online copy.

This is a classic paper, and CLU is a classic language. We mentioned it a couple of times in the past.

If you ever heard of, or care about, abstraction in programming - do yourself a favor and read this.

OOP is important but inheritance can be problematic. Liskov is one of the few whose contribution to the concept of abstraction in software engineering is of lasting effect.