Modula

{{Short description|Programming language}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{primary sources|date=July 2016}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2013}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}

{{Infobox programming language

| name = Modula

| paradigms = Imperative, structured, modular

| family = Wirth Modula

| designer = Niklaus Wirth

| developer = Niklaus Wirth

| released = {{Start date and age|1975}}

| typing = Static, strong, safe

| scope = Lexical

| discontinued = Yes

| platform = PDP-11, LSI-11

| operating system =

| website =

| dialects =

| influenced by = Pascal

| influenced = Alma-0, Go, Modula-2

}}

The Modula programming language is a descendant of the Pascal language. It was developed in Switzerland, at ETH Zurich, in the mid-1970s by Niklaus Wirth, the same person who designed Pascal. The main innovation of Modula over Pascal is a module system, used for grouping sets of related declarations into program units; hence the name Modula. The language is defined in a report by Wirth called Modula. A language for modular multiprogramming published 1976.{{cite journal |last=Wirth |first=Niklaus |date=1 January 1976 |title=Modula: a language for modular multiprogramming |url=https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/68669 |website=ETH Library |publisher=ETH Zurich |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000199440}}

Modula was first implemented by Wirth on a PDP-11. Very soon, other implementations followed, most importantly, the compilers developed for University of York Modula, and one at Philips Laboratories named PL Modula, which generated code for the LSI-11 microprocessor.

The development of Modula was discontinued soon after its publication. Wirth then concentrated his efforts on Modula's successor, Modula-2.