[TUHS] Re: early Unix papers, from Jim Joyce

[segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org>]

The following papers stick out to me as papers that haven't surfaced in any of the research I've done (not exhaustive, but what stuck out to me):

The Programmer's Workbench - A Machine for Software Development
    - Is this distinct from the Mashey papers?

Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language
    - This sounds fun, not hard UNIX info, but fun

A Typesetter-Independent TROFF
    - A ditroff-specific paper?  Can't say I've seen such a thing, would be interested in this one.  I know someone (can't recall name/email) in the GROFF mailing list seemed particularly excited about ditroff information that could be gleaned from the UNIX/TS 4.0 docs, this may be their golden carrot.

PIC - A Graphics Language for Typesetting
    - The list mentions a March 1982 revision.  This would post-date the UNIX/TS 4.0 version, although there is the Research V10 version of the paper.  However, an initial flip through the V10 Volume 2 manual reveals no specific last-modify date.  That would ultimately trace back to https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V8/usr/doc/pic . I can't find the roff sources for V9 or V10 of this paper though, I've just got the physical book for V10.

The PIC Graphics Language
    - Another PIC paper?

FSCK - The Unix File System Check Program
    - This paper shows up in UNIX/TS document sets but not research.  I'd be curious of the specific date on this one, the latest one we have afaik is 1981, UNIX/TS 4.0.

Combining Data Bases: National and Cartographic Files
    - Not explicitly UNIX perhaps? Either way, I like maps, I'd be curious what is going on here

The UNIX System: Making Computers Easier To Use
    - Perhaps a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw ?

C Reference Manual
    - Curious on the date, there are many revisions scanned

UNIX Documentation Guide
    - BSD "Documentation Roadmap" perhaps?  I have a 4BSD paper compilation from some university in Australia, seems to just be a subset of C and Fortran related papers though, I wonder if there's correlation between this and the intro paper in that set...

The Unix Programming Environment
    - Kernighan and Mashey?  Does this bear any relation to the book authored with Rob Pike?  I feel like I've seen this title in passing but am definitely curious.

A Walk Through AWK
    - Somewhere between the original AWK paper and the AWK book?

PARTS - A System for Assigning Word Classes to English Text
    - Probably the paper underlying descriptions of parts in later WWB literature.

Writing Tools - The STYLE and DICTION Programs
    - Ditto, I'd be curious how much of what became trade-book WWB/DWB documentation started as Bell memoranda and if a full manual could be compiled from just memoranda.

Route Finding in Street Maps by Computers and People
    - More maps work by Bell, didn't know they did stuff in this area

I would absolutely be interested in throwing my hat in the ring on preservation, can pay for shipping to and fro and scanning would be gratis.  That said, if someone expects a certain DPI, OCR, etc. then you can pay someone, I volunteer my resources at the capacity I can volunteer them.

If someone else can do the whole package, I'll also happily donate towards that.

- Matt G.

------- Original Message -------
On Monday, November 7th, 2022 at 2:16 PM, Grant Taylor via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:


> On 11/6/22 4:56 PM, Rich Morin wrote:
> 
> > However, as a small step along the way, I opened up the box and
> > produced a rough list of the contents (see below). When I noticed
> > version or date information, I noted it, but many of the documents
> > are missing that sort of thing. So, YMMV.
> 
> 
> Thank you very much for the list. The provided details and your care to
> separate things is appreciated.
> 
> > P.S. Careful Reader may notice a strong emphasis on text processing
> > in this collection. Jim's research interests included the use of
> > computers to analyze Middle English poetry. For example, the rhyme
> > schemes allowed him to clarify the pronunciation of certain words.
> 
> 
> I noticed that.
> 
> I also noticed that I would very much like to spend some (upcoming) cold
> winter days with tea reading many of these papers.
> 
> I'd be happy to help contribute to get these papers somewhere to be
> scanned & shared. Sadly I don't know how to go about doing the scanning
> myself.
> 
> I'll contribute at least $10 toward getting these papers somewhere to be
> scanned.
> 
> My efforts to scan front & back covers of my books doesn't scale to
> scanning, much less OCRing, books.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Grant. . . .
> unix || die