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 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 5379 invoked from network); 28 Nov 2021 21:17:29 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 28 Nov 2021 21:17:29 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 27F9C9CF48; Mon, 29 Nov 2021 07:17:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 187CF9C1E1; Mon, 29 Nov 2021 07:15:24 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 8F4BE94613; Mon, 29 Nov 2021 07:15:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (fourwinds.com [63.64.179.162]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2A63C94586 for ; Mon, 29 Nov 2021 07:15:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.16.1/8.15.2) with ESMTP id 1ASLFKjB1438857; Sun, 28 Nov 2021 13:15:20 -0800 Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (jon@localhost) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.16.1/8.15.2/Submit) with ESMTP id 1ASLFK1Q1438854; Sun, 28 Nov 2021 13:15:20 -0800 Message-Id: <202111282115.1ASLFK1Q1438854@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Jon Steinhart To: TUHS main list In-reply-to: References: <202111282026.1ASKQ5X41437843@darkstar.fourwinds.com> Comments: In-reply-to Rob Pike message dated "Mon, 29 Nov 2021 08:07:57 +1100." MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <1438852.1638134120.1@darkstar.fourwinds.com> Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2021 13:15:20 -0800 X-JON-SPAM: local delivery Subject: Re: [TUHS] A New History of Modern Computing - my thoughts 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: Eugene Miya Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Rob Pike writes: > Is there a symbiosis between C and the PDP-11 instruction set? The > machine was vital to C and Unix's success, but primarily due to the > availability of a department-sized machine. Was the instruction set a > significant component? Most Unix programmers wrote little to no > assembly, although perhaps more read what came out of the compiler. > But did it matter? Auto-increment and -decrement are often cited in > this story, but they are not that important, really, and were around > well before the PDP-11 made its appearance. > > I'm curious to hear arguments on either side. > > -rob Well, might just be my personal experience, but most of the machines that I had used before the 11 were classic accumulator architectures. I feel that the 11's pointer architecture combined with autoincrement and autodecrement was an amazing fit for C. If I remember correctly, it was very cool to have *p++ = *q++ be a single instruction. BTW, one thing that I forgot in my earlier post is that I think that the book also omitted any mention of Creative Commons. The book did talk about the business of the web and such, and it's my opinion that CC was an an essential third prong. The machines were one, the software was another, the third was content and CC was a big enabler. Jon