Simula: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:01, 8 June 2025

A family of languages developed in Norway in the 1960s and specifically designed to create simulations in. Supersets of Algol 60, the Simula languages are notable for being the first object-oriented languages in the world and being the predecessor to both Smalltalk and C++, while the object-oriented features of Smalltalk over time moved quite a bit away from their Simula origins, C++ retains the object-oriented model it inherited in a surprisingly faithful fashion.

Like so many older programming languages Simula used to be spelled with all caps, or SIMULA, however since the ratification of the Simula 87 standard the convention has been to spell it like any other noun, although when referring to classic versions the all caps convention is commonly used, i.e. SIMULA 66 and so on.

History

The project was initiated in 1962 by Kristen Nygaard, and he alongside Ole-Johan Dahl were the main designers of the language, at the time both were working for the Norwegian Computing Center.

Implementations

OS/2 & DOS

Cim - Open source - Simula to C translator
PC Simula - Commercial

Java

J-Sim - Open source - Simula like rather than pure Simula.

Publications

G.M. Birtwistle: SIMULA Begin - Auerbach 1973, ISBN 91-44-06211-7
R.J. Pooley: An Introduction to Programming in Simula - Blackwell Scientific 1987, ISBN 0-632-01611-6
Bjørn Kirkerud: Object-Oriented Programming with Simula - Addison-Wesley 1989, ISBN 0-201-17574-6

The Birth of Simula by Stein Krogdahl
Andrew P. Black: Object-oriented programming: some history, and challenges for the next fifty years
Jan Rune Holmevik: Compiling Simula - A published article on the history of Simula
Ole-Johan Dahl: The Birth of Object Orientation: the Simula Languages
A list of papers by Jacob Palme on the subject of Simula.
Gregory L. Dietrich: Adapting a portable SIMULA compiler to Perkin-Elmer computers in a UNIX environment in PDF format - From 1986.
Jaroslav Sklenar: Introduction To OOP In SIMULA

Links

Simula info
Simula information page from the University of Montreal.
Simula 67 info
An archive of Peter Sylvester's Simula page - From Archive.org - This was by far the most comprehensive Simula resource on the internet.
The Simula Programming Language - Sundry info

Tutorials

TutorialsPoint Simula "IDE"

Standards

The original paper on SIMULA 67 that most compilers referenced is called Common Base Language.
The Simula 86 standard

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-A family of languages developed in Norway in the 1960's and specifically designed to create simulations. Supersets of [[Algol 60]], the Simula languages are notable for being the first object oriented languages in the world and being the predecessor to both [[SmallTalk]] and [[C++]], while the object oriented features of Smalltalk over time moved quite a bit away from their Simula origins, C++ retains the object oriented model it inherited in a surprisingly faithful fashion.
+[[Image:SuperSimula.gif|right]]
+A family of languages developed in Norway in the 1960s and specifically designed to create simulations in. Supersets of [[Algol 60]], the Simula languages are notable for being the first object-oriented languages in the world and being the predecessor to both [[Smalltalk]] and [[C++]], while the object-oriented features of Smalltalk over time moved quite a bit away from their Simula origins, C++ retains the object-oriented model it inherited in a surprisingly faithful fashion.
-Like so many older programming languages Simula used to be spelled with all caps, or SIMULA, however since the ratification of the Simula 87 standard the convention has been to spell it like any other noun, although when referring to classic versions the all caps convention is used , i.e. SIMULA 66 and so on.
+Like so many older programming languages Simula used to be spelled with all caps, or SIMULA, however since the ratification of the Simula 87 standard the convention has been to spell it like any other noun, although when referring to classic versions the all caps convention is commonly used, i.e. SIMULA 66 and so on.
-==A list of OS/2 implementations of Simula==
+==History==
-* [[Cim]] - Open source - Discontinued - Simula to C translator
+The project was initiated in 1962 by Kristen Nygaard, and he alongside Ole-Johan Dahl were the main designers of the language, at the time both were working for the Norwegian Computing Center.
-* [[PC Simula]] - Commercial - Discontinued
-====Libraries and bindings====
+==Implementations==
-*
+;OS/2 & DOS
+* [[Cim]] - Open source - Simula to C translator
+* [[PC Simula]] - Commercial
-==A list of DOS implementations of Simula==
+;Java
-* [[Cim]] - Open source - Discontinued - Simula to C translator
+* [http://www.kiv.zcu.cz/j-sim/ J-Sim] - Open source - Simula like rather than pure Simula.
-* [[PC Simula]] - Commercial - Discontinued - Now freeware
-==A list of Simula implementations that run under WinOS/2==
+==Publications==
-*
+*G.M. Birtwistle: ''SIMULA Begin'' - Auerbach 1973, ISBN 91-44-06211-7
-==A list of Simula implementations that run under Java==
+*R.J. Pooley: ''An Introduction to Programming in Simula'' - Blackwell Scientific 1987, ISBN 0-632-01611-6
-* [http://www.kiv.zcu.cz/j-sim/ J-Sim] - Open source - Current - Simula like rather than pure Simula.
+*Bjørn Kirkerud: ''Object-Oriented Programming with Simula'' - Addison-Wesley 1989, ISBN 0-201-17574-6
-==A list of Simula implementations in JavaScript==
-*
-==Publications==
-* [http://www.isima.fr/asu/asubook.html Simula Bibliography]
 * [http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~steinkr/papers/HiNC1-webversion-simula.pdf The Birth of Simula] by Stein Krogdahl
-* [http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/Simula/OVERVIEW An old Simula information text file]
 * Andrew P. Black: [https://archive.org/details/arxiv-1303.0427 Object-oriented programming: some history, and challenges for the next fifty years]
+* Jan Rune Holmevik: [http://staff.um.edu.mt/jskl1/simula.html Compiling Simula] - A published article on the history of Simula
-====Local articles====
+* Ole-Johan Dahl: ''The Birth of Object Orientation: the Simula Languages''
-*
+* A [http://people.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/s1/jp-on-simula.html list of papers by Jacob Palme] on the subject of Simula.
+* Gregory L. Dietrich: [https://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/9910 Adapting a portable SIMULA compiler to Perkin-Elmer computers in a UNIX environment] in PDF format - From 1986.
-====Tutorials and other learning material====
+* Jaroslav Sklenar: [http://staff.um.edu.mt/jskl1/talk.html Introduction To OOP In SIMULA]
-*
 ==Links==
-* [http://www.isima.fr/asu/ The Association of Simula Users] (Aka ASU)
 * [http://staff.um.edu.mt/jskl1/asu/index.html Simula info]
 * [http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~simula/ Simula information page] from the University of Montreal.
+* [http://www.simula67.info/ Simula 67 info]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150508173758/http://www.edelweb.fr/Simula/ An archive of Peter Sylvester's Simula page] - From [[Archive.org]] - This was by far the most comprehensive Simula resource on the internet.
+* [https://www.mn.uio.no/tjenester/it/hjelp/programvare/simula/ The Simula Programming Language] - Sundry info
+;Tutorials
+* [http://www.tutorialspoint.com/compile_simula_online.php TutorialsPoint Simula "IDE"]
 ==Standards==
-* The Simula 86 standard is [http://prosjekt.ring.hibu.no/simula/Standard/index.html reproduced here]
+* The original paper on SIMULA 67 that most compilers referenced is called Common Base Language.
+* The Simula 86 standard
 [[Category:Programming Languages]] [[Category:Simula]]