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The article introduces the June 1976 issue of the journal ACM Computer Surveys. The first paper in this issue, is on the programming language ALGOL 68. This treatment of the language has been long needed by students and teachers who until now have not had available to them much more than reference literature on the subject. The second paper, surveys the various methods used in the formal definition of programming languages. It is also a well-written paper but the subject is more difficult than that of the first paper and therefore requires more care when reading. The effort is also very ambitious and covers a topic in which the interest of readers is ever expanding. One referee described the paper as a reference work. Another concurred, saying that it would be difficult to study it from beginning to end. Its main virtue is as a tutorial for someone interested in one of the methods discussed and as a reference for someone who needs to look something up. The third paper deals with computer system architecture.

This article presents the editorial policy update in the journal "Computing Surveys." A new editorial policy was announced in the March 1973 issue after the author assumed the editorship of the journal. In the past three years, the editorial board had a complete transition, from a journal of largely invited papers paid for with substantial honoraria to a journal of mainly contributed papers. Strict standards based on careful referring and interaction among authors, referees and editors have maintained high standards. They offered special issues on topics of broad interest by guest editors. Since they could not manage to increase the substantial number of high-quality papers published annually they have taken a major step by announcing a formation of an editorial board for the journals. Authors can forward their papers to either the editor-in-chief or the editorial board and are assured of equivalent attention and service.

The article introduces the March 1975 issue of the journal ACM Computing Surveys. The first paper deals with hashing techniques for table management. The second paper deals with coordination problems in multiprocessing and resource allocation. The third paper is an informative, complete and readable tutorial and survey article on the subject of computer software and the copyright laws of the US. This evolving subject is, by its nature, only partially understood since the Courts, in applying US copyright laws to the computer field, have ruled on but a small number of the issues raised in this paper. For this reason many of the conclusions and implications found in this paper are bound to become controversial. In his Introduction, the author warns the readers to seek counsel of a lawyer before acting on any matters discussed in this paper. The author takes strong positions and urges interested readers to do the same. Referees were not unanimous, although a clear majority favored its publication.