BETA language Proposal as of April 1979

Abstract

The report contains a proposal for the definition of the BETA programming language. Description of additional concepts to be included (contexts, descriptors, layers) and possible alternatives to the proposal are given.

BETA is a general block-structured language in the style of Algol, Simula, and Pascal. It is intended to be used for programming computer systems, and for defining and implementing application oriented languages.

BETA is closer to Simula than to Algol and Pascal. Procedure, function, type and class declarations have been unified into one declaration called a pattern. Objects may execute their actions independently (possibly in concurrency) and communication between them must be synchronized in a manner similar to Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes. The notions of static subroutine, variable and constant have been unified into one concept. In contrast to Simula, BETA has possibilities for a completely static storage layout.