Mesa Language

Mesa (the Language)

The language name was a pun based upon the programming language catchphrases of the time, because Mesa is a "high level" programming language.

Mesa is an ALGOL-like language with strong support for modular programming. Every library module has at least two source files: a definitions file specifying the library's interface plus one or more program files specifying the implementation of the procedures in the interface.[2] To use a library, a program or higher-level library must "import" the definitions. The Mesa compiler type-checks all uses of imported entities; this combination of separate compilation with type-checking was unusual at the time.

Mesa introduced several other innovations in language design and implementation, notably in the handling of software exceptions, thread synchronization, incremental compilation, and more.

Please see J.G. Mitchell, W. Maybury, R. Sweet (1978): Mesa Language Manual. XeroxParc CSL-78-1

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