I used to work for a computer manufacturer that was nearly dead - lots of cubicles piled full of junk. The reference manuals had these very nice diagrams of the computer boards detailing the connectors on the board edges. Imagine my surprise when I discovered all the artwork was PIC generated… Joe Joe McGuckin ViaNet Communications joe@via.net 650-207-0372 cell 650-213-1302 office 650-969-2124 fax > On Aug 10, 2022, at 10:37 AM, arnold@skeeve.com wrote: > > Oh, I'm not arguing with any of this. I'm merely noting that > you are unusual in your ability to easily visualize pic results > from looking at the code. > > Arnold > > Larry McVoy wrote: > >> Well, I stand behind my comments. Take a look at what xfig(1) >> produces and contrast that with even an average pic(1) source >> file. You can't see what xfig is saying but you can easily see >> what pic is saying. >> >> Maybe people just haven't written much pic, but what you can do >> with it, and see without rendering it, is pretty amazing. >> >> I got James Clark to add the 'i'th concept so you could do for >> loops to lay out elements and I wrote a pic script where you >> could set variables like cpus, networks, disks and it would >> draw different configurations of a SPARCcluster. >> >> Pic is pretty neat, I find it easier to read than any of the >> other troff preprocessors. >> >> On Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 09:05:20AM -0600, arnold@skeeve.com wrote: >>> Hi All. >>> >>> Douglas McIlroy wrote: >>> >>>>> I've always believed that pic was so well designed >>>>> because it took a day to get the print out (back then), >>>> >>>> I'm afraid this belief is urban legend. Credit for pic is due 100% to >>>> Kernighan, not to the contemporary pace of computing practice. >>> >>> I occassionally forward TUHS items (that I think are) of interest >>> to Brian. I have in the past forwarded one of Larry's "I like pic >>> because I can read the code and visualize the picture" emails to >>> him. He responded that he didn't work that way. :-) >>> >>> Here, by permission, is his response to Larry's latest note of >>> that kind, which I think is also of more or less general interest: >>> >>>> Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2022 19:03:00 -0400 (EDT) >>>> From: Brian Kernighan >>>> To: arnold@skeeve.com >>>> Subject: Re: larry mcvoy on pic, again >>>> >>>> I don't know that I would read too much into the development of >>>> Pic, though my memory is so dim that it would all be made up >>>> anyway. >>>> >>>> One observation: with Yacc and Lex available, languages were a lot >>>> easier to implement; I had already done a troff preprocessor so >>>> that aspect was well in hand. And I was actually the owner of >>>> troff at the same time, so I could mix and match (e.g., the >>>> primitives for drawing lines). I think that "seeing the output" >>>> wasn't too hard, either because I could use the typesetter, or the >>>> Tectronix 4014 (?) for which there was a troff output emulator >>>> that I think I wrote. >>>> >>>> The main issues as I recall were figuring out coordinate systems, >>>> since Pic had Y going positive as with conventional plotting, >>>> while troff had it going negative (down the page is higher Y >>>> values). >>>> >>>> But it's all kind of fuzzy at this point. >> >> -- >> --- >> Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat