From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 72792f46 for ; Wed, 12 Jun 2019 15:31:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 168619B79E; Thu, 13 Jun 2019 01:31:51 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB8699B485; Thu, 13 Jun 2019 01:31:17 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id CB5409B481; Thu, 13 Jun 2019 01:31:13 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 80F389518D for ; Thu, 13 Jun 2019 01:31:12 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id x5CFV9pS008640 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:31:09 -0400 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id x5CFV9Qf111617 for ; Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:31:09 -0400 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id x5CFV9rM111616 for tuhs@tuhs.org; Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:31:09 -0400 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <201906121531.x5CFV9rM111616@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:31:09 -0400 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [TUHS] RIP Bud Lawson X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Bud Lawson, long an expat living in Sweden, died yesterday. Not a Unix person, he was, however, the originator of a characteristic Unix programmer's idiom. Using an idea adapted from Ken Knowlton, Bud invented the pointer- chasing arrow operator that Dennis Ritchie adopted for C. I played matchmaker. When Bud first proposed the "based storage" (pointer) facility for PL/I, he used the well-established field(pointer) notation. I introduced him to the pointer-chasing notation Knowlton devised for L6. Knowlton, however, had no operator because he had only single-letter identifiers. What we now write as a->b->c, Knowlton wrote as abc. Appreciating the absence of parentheses, Bud came up with the wonderfully intuitive pointer->field notation. Doug