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=-0.5 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_ADSP_CUSTOM_MED, DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, 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 8ed924c6 for ; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 17:47:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 6C456A220E; Wed, 5 Dec 2018 03:47:33 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43659A2202; Wed, 5 Dec 2018 03:47:01 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 58ED9A2202; Wed, 5 Dec 2018 03:46:55 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-lf1-f48.google.com (mail-lf1-f48.google.com [209.85.167.48]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8E519A2201 for ; Wed, 5 Dec 2018 03:46:49 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-lf1-f48.google.com with SMTP id z13so12599574lfe.11 for ; Tue, 04 Dec 2018 09:46:49 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc; bh=aI6MT7W1Pv7USlFZG4EGHn5WsGaFavbz0BFlyRHrdRM=; b=m46UgvdsloD0CjomBdyZMDU4M7mU0NYM01QithrQBOvXjbgsxMDSQpx/6vuiWZIMBt jG/4orgg8xa5NzCHO/3n/Oji3ZTPgBKXTx9SWqGF6yCtVKk1DdcVUdd5N4SItBezDAXN DJGUkRZY0r6SJgHujy6pX3CEuj6rC2OXpgNqlGa9dER0Cr5dtWq/S/ea2CO2BDhHpFn9 oGLP7kt1GWeUZrvwKWNPUER5cy+cxZgdkoqdOj8Zi+RXBIpwrE4EBIGP3M8bqrMFLkmr kYDFvMagxmDz/ldYDTF7oRkcr2r5JfecUj2ce8+WVTg2gXRYnwz/vEVFBBbBBWNwzZxg XLMw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date :message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=aI6MT7W1Pv7USlFZG4EGHn5WsGaFavbz0BFlyRHrdRM=; b=O14J4Z0vlAuk6JEyLxY+rFlmQkOpFCF15OZ1n1BSmbI+AFhgDRVU1KVWNkw5vC4C1N CshyiIPt8PIhbbTZjkCO0SCaBXP8/gcgzRZkU9DslNJaXI3EMnboFVBa1G6nsfK1rn8Z 8gLgObxIXEN5zDRXL4pGPKUTzLCuZi+lhTekjQyRjir6QC3MNSXafokXeIUFpNUqNYyC ntj2FGyvW1+5Z5dlFZUWVRRo2lV4RTzusP22DXdQKK/URb3evlLgw+d/25Tz9g2U/lzL j2ZPtDHF7WLOHJCcrzdkQfHRd+wjq8YFN2ps1cN5BQKRANkdWO3VEA7oErQB8HMAKfb1 vobQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AA+aEWY7TMVY9fSbaRTV1DYagBLGQYj+somoAaMGCgdMnGMv97k3qwtl IBIkOiG5oEzNd64ED/1FVyYuZ++ssYVARHKbbAM= X-Google-Smtp-Source: AFSGD/V8iQ1zQGUxHPFNo1tyYz4zsVYn8N/TFOgTMmag1M7KnowXNZunF8kmZ+haUlefay740k0P/eUL5+D4TxG//xU= X-Received: by 2002:a19:5f1e:: with SMTP id t30mr11837538lfb.76.1543945607733; Tue, 04 Dec 2018 09:46:47 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 2002:a2e:3a11:0:0:0:0:0 with HTTP; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 09:46:46 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <20181204144306.A830E18C0A0@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> <2DBF1622-0489-4F39-88A5-BCE130732041@tkr.bondplaza.com> From: Paul Winalski Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2018 12:46:46 -0500 Message-ID: To: Clem Cole Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Subject: Re: [TUHS] Happy birthday, John Backus! X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On 12/4/18, Clem Cole wrote: > > The first DEC compilers for the 360 bit and 12 bit lines were written in > assembler, but they switched to BLISS (and some other languages for > different front-ends) by the 70s for the newer generations of compilers. > Paul can give that history as he was part of it. Unfortunately I can't give much of DEC's compiler history as I was a member of the software development tools team at the time. I didn't pay too much attention to what was going on with the VAX compilers. I moved to the compiler world in 1985 as part of the GEM compiler back end team, which was tasked with developing a new, common back end to replace the various VAX code generators going forward. The compiler guys wanted to concentrate on optimization and code generation, so they hired me--a software development tools guy--to design and implement the non-compiler parts of the back end such as command line parsing, heap memory management, file I/O, and object file generation. Over the years GEM was targeted to MIPS, PRISM, Alpha, and Itanium machine architectures, and VMS, Unix, Linux, and Windows NT operating systems. We were working on x86 when Compaq sold the Alpha architecture and its engineering team (including GEM) to Intel. Intel never did anything with the GEM technology. BLISS was DEC engineering's official implementation language. BLISS-32 was used for the VAX. I'm pretty sure VAX Fortran, VAX COBOL, VAX BASIC, and VAX Pascal were all written in BLISS. They all had their own independently developed code generators. VAX C and VAX PL/I were written by Dave Cutler's compiler group in the late 70s/early 80s. They shared a common back end called the VAX Code Generator (VCG). I don't know what the implementation language for VCG was; I think it was C (Dave Cutler was not a BLISS fan). VAX PL/I used the Frieburghouse PL/I front end, which I think was written in C. VAX Ada was also VCG-based; the front end was written in BLISS. VAXeln Pascal might have been written in Pascal. All of DEC's Alpha compilers used GEM as the back end. There was also a VAX MACRO GEM-based compiler that took VAX assembler as its input language and generated native Alpha code. GEM was originally completely written in BLISS, but in the mid-1980s I started rewriting the modules under my control in the common subset of C/C++ to take advantage of strong typing (BLISS has no data typing whatsoever). DEC C/C++ for Alpha used the Edison Design Group C/C++ front end. DEC acquired COMPASS's compiler technology and DEC Fortran used the COMPASS Fortran front end to support Fortran 90. That code is written in C. -Paul W.