The primary purpose of this book is to serve as a reference for an overall view of higher level languages. The book brings together in one place, and in a consistent fashion, fundamental information on programming languages, including history, general characteristics, similarities, and differences. A second purpose of the book is to provide specific basic information on all the significant, and most of the minor, higher level languages developed in the United States. The third purpose of the book is to provide history and perspective for this particular aspect of the programming field. - Preface.