Before ALGOLAlgorithmic Language — an influential family of languages that introduced structured programming and block syntax., every computer had its own notation. ALGOLAlgorithmic Language — an influential family of languages that introduced structured programming and block syntax. gave scientists and textbook authors one common style for describing programs — the ancestor of how we still write pseudocode and structured code in Pascal, C, and many modern languages.

Scientists were publishing algorithms in incompatible notations — you couldn't easily compare or reuse work across labs and countries.

It showed that programming ideas could be written in a standard, readable form instead of being tied to one machine's assembly code.