LSE (programming language)

LSE (French: Langage symbolique d'enseignement) is a programming language developed at Supélec and Télémécanique from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. It is similar to BASIC, except with French-language instead of English-language keywords. It was derived from an earlier language called LSD, also developed at Supélec. It is most commonly said to be an acronym for Langage Symbolique d'Enseignement (Symbolic Teaching Language), but other expansions are also known (e.g. Langage de Sup-Élec, or the more cynical Langage Sans Espoir (hopeless language)). LSE originally flourished because being "interpreted", the "tokens" used were common to all languages and with a nationalized "editor", tokenized programs could be listed in any language. Obviously, the support from the French Ministry of National Education was very important, but it declined as the ministry lost interest. It went through a number of revisions; earlier versions of LSE lacked full support for structured programming, later versions such as LSE-83 (aka LSE-1983) by Jacques Arsac added structured programming support, along with exception handling. Even later revisions, such as LSE-2000, added more functionality, new types, new operators (NI, ET QUE, OU QUE and SELON-DANS-SINON), flow control commands, etc.