An Algol-based implementation of SNOBOL4 patterns
Nevil Brownlee · Communications of the ACM · 1977
which SNOBOL4 patterns are compiled into Algol functions, which can be combined into larger (more complicated) patterns, and which are directly executed.It was developed as part of the implementation of "Snobal/67" [1], a Burroughs B6700 compiler for a SNOBOL4-1ike language.The algorithms presented below were developed in Burroughs B6700 Extended Algol, but are described here in Pascal [6,7], since this is probably a more widely known language.The version of Pascal used has two extensions: record-valued functions, and the ability to declare varying length arrays.The algorithms are by no means complete; for example, they do not include any attempt to avoid futile searching for a match [3]. Key Words and Phrases: patterns,