PSL/II(ID:5144/psl004)

Problem Statement Language/version 2  

version 2 of the Problem Statement Language
Related languages
PSL => PSL/II   Evolution of
PSL/II => RDL   Evolution of
References:
  • Hershey, E. A.; Rataj, W. J.; and Teichroew,D. "PSL/II Language Specifications", Version 1.0 ISDOS Working Paper No. 68, University of Michigan, Dept. of Industrial and Operations Engineering, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Feb. 1973). view details
  • Leavenworth, Burt M.; Sammet, Jean E. "An overview of nonprocedural languages" pp1-12 view details Abstract: This paper attempts to describe some of the basic characteristics and issues involving the class of programming languages commonly referred to as ?nonprocedural? or ?very high level?. The paper discusses major issues such as terminology, relativeness, and arbitrary sequencing. Five features of nonprocedural languages are described, and a number of specific languages are discussed briefly. A short history of the subject is included.
    Extract: PSL/2
    In the framework of the ISDOS project, it is expected that users will write a problem description in PSL (Problem Statement Language) and this will be analyzed by the PSA (Problem Statement Analyzer). PSL is designed to provide the Problem Definer (i.e., today's systems analyst) with a better method of stating the requirements for an information processing system. A careful distinction is made between the latter, and the programs which implement these requirements. Stating requirements is done in the current version being developed, namely PSL/II (Hershey, et al., 1973), which allows for 8 sections in the problem statements. The analyst writes one or more of these sections in a top-down fashion providing more detail at lower levels. The intermediate level of having the system make design decisions on file formats and structure of programs was being worked on in mid-1973. Relating this to Section 4, extensions to the Problem Statement Language will probably provide some associative reference and aggregate operators and presumably will concentrate heavily on eliminating arbitrary sequencing.
          in Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN symposium on Very high level languages, March 28-29, 1974, Santa Monica, California, United States view details