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=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 13601 invoked from network); 13 Jun 2023 00:47:10 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 13 Jun 2023 00:47:10 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 559A34109D; Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:47:05 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-qk1-x72d.google.com (mail-qk1-x72d.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::72d]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 597A640151 for ; Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:46:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-qk1-x72d.google.com with SMTP id af79cd13be357-7607919000aso39470685a.3 for ; Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:46:59 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=dartmouth.edu; s=google1; t=1686617218; x=1689209218; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:from:to:cc:subject :date:message-id:reply-to; bh=0OxVOD2C4SSdNlDZHDii82tpKzjPGweWuxAI2u3+SJE=; b=SfedTkgUDi0Fk3vz8MwAezMrlZurZwyOhaIeO4rPT+Y8OI2RutY2PbqCqIJuzvI3AY 2u0SC5MjUnYaPsd+NDnrk7xr4USD17pPY7hjpFlwddNSty4fu5B6M4E6baxYuhJm8IQW vxXa3Sfvl1diHSGrUpTAaN0CzcL+gmMY0a/AUfYvWgfoNl9F3t3Hv1ii5GhX61aqsu6k by3PZnpSNdnfLaa6XB+Y3qwsmFNGvA9FnDHvUZb6IJGz+YFCFwymqdpg/V0D78xNLdq6 NNCNbSv5SAdpVxVvq10NR5CznLtvxNJvAr5uWAGTvMPgqaHq8209gdma3Z+PAnL/kvnr C6Bg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20221208; t=1686617218; x=1689209218; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:x-gm-message-state :from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=0OxVOD2C4SSdNlDZHDii82tpKzjPGweWuxAI2u3+SJE=; b=fgnAD6T914E/1Rq2zTT1toUc/Cffvm0ifFSUKtmfsUDSt5Gid0DChEwy+IBjfOp4NK 0XBmqsYVnQbrV1AhBP4D1D87ck4Wf++1YdjkPkUk3Npmsw4EYfeRA74gxA3AM6+91ARA 5KmvzcoN7/n+dKH+s23dVJdJN1k3zo8Y/mPnBfEYRF4b5RGnBlVC/IhHhW+bZZJ/xFPZ GfzDQobQIbk+xrMqHVSKTsmM6E52u0UDDLa44czZ5PK+O6DTmcONY9VwsgIzPQeElR8M Uuva6UBpMKS+WXRtew+FfZgEpsyoOU14oqLYv7g7HK4Y340ZJsw9U/jFeY1LbV9xClpn sGrQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AC+VfDwr2neaVON2puW7b3730rPdpJoeoz8/D1iSJTyrJ5EhP1cFh1sv gIAXQNI+oZQcTTfVq33tktTGfz1FVIBW/DLJRQFJsEdGhtbh7lzG2T8= X-Google-Smtp-Source: ACHHUZ5rMO4xYkTXUM0xAVNTUFoKNoDy8a20M22ogo/mckLavgyPCqAHJG1j1BXDoETGAUzrfplSiC1Df8KDtrn6uD4= X-Received: by 2002:a05:620a:3b18:b0:75b:23a1:40a with SMTP id tl24-20020a05620a3b1800b0075b23a1040amr9340377qkn.32.1686617217881; Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:46:57 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 From: Douglas McIlroy Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2023 20:46:42 -0400 Message-ID: To: TUHS main list Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Message-ID-Hash: EAW6WYX5FMVVBS7NAY7S6XXIY2RXSSAA X-Message-ID-Hash: EAW6WYX5FMVVBS7NAY7S6XXIY2RXSSAA X-MailFrom: douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: crt0 -- what's in that name? List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: >I thought it was pretty well known that it [BSS] stands for, "Block Started (by) Symbol"? BSS was a "pseudo-operation" in SAP (SHARE assembly program) for the IBM 704. My recollection is that the assembler manual called it "block starting at symbol". There was also a BES (block ending at symbol) pseudo-op. Both reserved a block of memory, with the assembler assigning the appropriate value to the pseudo-op's label. The reason for BES was that index registers were subtractive. There was a loop-ending instruction ,TIX (transfer on index), that decreased the index by a specified amount and transferred to a specified location unless the index hit zero, in which case the instruction counter continued in sequence. BES was originally conceived for addressing an array stored by increasing subscript but indexed by a register that counted down. BES was also useful for FORTRAN object code, which stored arrays backward and kept the true, uncomplemented subscript in an index register. Doug