Which language came first with parallel assignment?

Question

When I discovered that python has parallel assignment I thought is pretty cool.

Recently I discovered parallel assignment works also in ruby.

For people that don't know it: x,y = y,x in ruby, python this swaps x and y values .

Which language came first with parallel assignment, python? or was it other language?

• Martijn Pieters: This is called tuple unpacking in python, not parallel assignment.
• Eduard Florinescu: @MartijnPieters Because they are separated by commas python treats x,y like being tuple?
• Eduard Florinescu: I just discovered that in FireBug console [x,y]=[y,x] works too.
• Martijn Pieters: Exactly; a tuple on the right-hand side will be unpacked into a series of variables on the left, if the lengths match. The y, x value on the right is a tuple because of the comma.
• Izkata: PHP likewise has the more-verbose list($a, $b) = array(1, 2)

Answer 1

CPL introduced the feature in 1963, calling it simultaneous assignment. From D.W. Barron et al., "The main features of CPL" (page 140):

24. Simultaneous assignment commands

The general form of an assignment command can now be given. Normally this is an expression yielding an LH value, followed by :=, followed by an expression yielding an RH value. However, if an explicit list is written on the left-hand side then the right-hand side is either an explicit list, or a list expression; in the latter case the transfer function Members is automatically invoked. In this form the two explicit lists must contain the same number of members, and the command denotes a simultaneous assignment of each right-hand member to the corresponding left-hand member. Thus, if L is a list variable and a, b, c are real variables,

L := a, b, c

is an assignment to the list variable, while

a, b, c := L

a, b := b,a

are simultaneous assignments.

• FrustratedWithFormsDesigner: Example near the bottom of this page: progopedia.com/language/cpl