From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 17809 invoked from network); 21 May 2020 17:36:36 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 21 May 2020 17:36:36 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 9C9FA9C90E; Fri, 22 May 2020 03:36:30 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 55C919C851; Fri, 22 May 2020 03:36:09 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C20259C908; Fri, 22 May 2020 03:36:06 +1000 (AEST) Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 661FA9C6FC for ; Fri, 22 May 2020 03:36:05 +1000 (AEST) X-Envelope-From: arnold@skeeve.com Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 04LHZpNE006013 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Thu, 21 May 2020 11:35:52 -0600 Received: (from arnold@localhost) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) id 04LHZoUr006011; Thu, 21 May 2020 11:35:50 -0600 From: arnold@skeeve.com Message-Id: <202005211735.04LHZoUr006011@freefriends.org> X-Authentication-Warning: frenzy.freefriends.org: arnold set sender to arnold@skeeve.com using -f Date: Thu, 21 May 2020 11:35:50 -0600 To: toby@telegraphics.com.au, dot@dotat.at References: <8a2e9b1b-8890-a783-5b53-c8480c070f2e@telegraphics.com.au> In-Reply-To: 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: Re: [TUHS] History of popularity of C 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: , Cc: tuhs@tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > Toby Thain wrote: > > > > - inexpensive compiler availability was not very good until ~1990 or > > later, but C had been taking off like wildfire for 10 years before that PCC contributed to this. Everybody and their brother was porting Unix to their fancy new CPU architecture / hardware. All you had to do was bootstrap a cross-compiler version of PCC on a PDP-11 (or more likely Vax), then get Unix to boot and Voila. (I remember reading a paper about how Motorola did just that for the MC 680x0 family.) C and Unix were established in Academia and Industry well before 1990. > I get the impression that an important part of its popularity was how C > (and C++) became the language of choice on the PC, and displaced Pascal in > the process. C++ became the language of choice on the PC when MSFT started pushing its compiler and Visual Studio IDE. At least, this is my two cents. Arnold