Talk:HAL/S

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Put sum examples on here!

You mean examples of addition?

What in blazes is "problem domain knowledge"? This is the sort of prose that makes me glad I don't work for a defense contractor anymore. —Anville 17:50, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)


It would be much cooler if the name was a reference to HAL 9000... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.248.175.112 (talk) 21:15, 6 November 2007 (UTC)


HAL does not stand for 'High-order Assembly Language'. I worked on the compiler project with Intermetrics for a number of years, and the following is from Fred Martin, a founding member of the HAL group in Cambridge:

OK, the answer is quite simple. HAL is not an acronym. In fact the origin is right on the Preface page of the HAL/S Specification , IR-61-5, signed off by NASA Nov. 22, 1974. It says, "....Intermetrics wishes to acknowledge the fundamental contribution to the concept .....made by Dr. J. Halcombe Laning of the MIT's Draper Laboratory." "HAL" was suggested as the name of the new language by Ed Copps, a founding director of Intermetrics, to honor Hal Laning, a colleague at MIT.

I'm inclined to believe so, but it will be hard to convince me that people didn't even gossiped about it being called so because of HAL 9000...--NIC1138 (talk) 02:17, 20 December 2007 (UTC)