From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [IPv6:2600:3c01:e000:146::1]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C5B221350 for ; Tue, 2 Apr 2024 22:31:27 +0200 (CEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F392F40267; Wed, 3 Apr 2024 06:31:25 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail3.nightskyhosting.com (mail3.nightskyhosting.com [66.172.0.245]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 437D140265 for ; Wed, 3 Apr 2024 06:31:22 +1000 (AEST) Received: from smtpclient.apple (c-73-24-217-16.hsd1.az.comcast.net [73.24.217.16]) by mail3.nightskyhosting.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 756AF55C03C6 for ; Tue, 2 Apr 2024 13:31:21 -0700 (PDT) From: "William H. Mitchell" Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 16.0 \(3696.120.41.1.8\)) Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2024 13:31:20 -0700 References: To: Computer Old Farts Followers In-Reply-To: Message-Id: <44286CEB-4014-442D-8DA9-6496C39AEAC1@msweng.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3696.120.41.1.8) Message-ID-Hash: MSBLL42AVNWNLP2I4WE6BTTXFLW2DV4O X-Message-ID-Hash: MSBLL42AVNWNLP2I4WE6BTTXFLW2DV4O X-MailFrom: whm@msweng.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Re: Of PL/I List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: PL/I, in the form of Cornell=E2=80=99s PL/C was the language we learned = in CSC 101H at NC State* in Fall 1976. At some point I was possessed to buy from the local IBM office a copy of = "OS PL/I Optimizing Compiler: Execution Logic". I see that a 1985 = version of that is here: = http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ibm/370/pli/SC33-0025-3_PLI_Optimiz= ing_Compiler_Execution_Logic_Sep85.pdf 454 pages. Lots of ASCII (well, = EBCDIC?) diagrams and flowcharts. See pages 31 and 151 for two = examples. In a comparative languages class that I=E2=80=99ve taught at the U of = Arizona, I've described PL/I as an example of what can happen when a = language designer incorporates a number of good features from other = languages: you get a Frankenstein. Support for `PIC` formatting comes = to mind as one of the things borrowed from COBOL. IIRC, and it=E2=80=99s a dim memory of a then-freshman, an interesting = thing about PL/I is that it has no reserved words. You can say = something like `if else =3D if then while =3D returns + return;` PL/I also has a macro facility that I only "got" years later, when = learning C. Hmm...no PL/I examples in = https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Metaprogramming. I wish I had a clone to = give that task. Very conveniently, PL/I has a `put data;` statement that prints the = value of all variables in scope. A friend at NCSU in the 70s, Billy Willis, used PL/M on maybe a PDP-11 = for a system he wrote to support his dissertation in chemical = engineering. William Mitchell Mitchell Software Engineering Occasional Adjunct Instructor at U of AZ CS 520-870-6488 (m) Discord: whm#5716, Twitter: @x77686d, Skype: x77686d linkedin.com/in/x77686d *Go Wolfpack; beat Purdue!