[TUHS] etymology of yacc

[TUHS] etymology of yacc

[Douglas McIlroy]

Steve,

Was Yacc an original coinage, or was it inspired by a similar acronym
for yet another whatever? The question is inspired by Yamoo, yet
another map of Orion, which is mentioned in today's NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/orion-nebula-webb-planets.html.
Do the two acronyms share a common ancestor?

Doug

[TUHS] Re: etymology of yacc

[Ron Natalie]

According to WIkipedia (for what that’s worth), it was Stephen Johnson’s 
coining of it for YACC that started it all.



------ Original Message ------
From "Douglas McIlroy" <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu>
To "TUHS main list" <tuhs@tuhs.org>; scj@yaccman.com
Date 10/2/23, 9:25:18 PM
Subject [TUHS] etymology of yacc

>Steve,
>
>Was Yacc an original coinage, or was it inspired by a similar acronym
>for yet another whatever? The question is inspired by Yamoo, yet
>another map of Orion, which is mentioned in today's NYT:
>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/orion-nebula-webb-planets.html.
>Do the two acronyms share a common ancestor?
>
>Doug

[TUHS] Re: etymology of yacc

[Bakul Shah]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 930 bytes --]

From https://www.computerworld.com/article/2534771/yacc--unix--and-advice-from--bell-labs-alumni-stephen-johnson.html

What made you name your parser generator in the form of an acronym: Yet Another Compiler Compiler? There were other Compiler-compilers in use at Bell Labs, especially as part of the Multics project. I was familiar with a version of McClure's TMG. When Jeff Ullman heard about my program, he said in astonishment "Another compiler-compiler?". Thus the name...

> On Oct 2, 2023, at 6:25 PM, Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
> Steve,
> 
> Was Yacc an original coinage, or was it inspired by a similar acronym
> for yet another whatever? The question is inspired by Yamoo, yet
> another map of Orion, which is mentioned in today's NYT:
> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/orion-nebula-webb-planets.html.
> Do the two acronyms share a common ancestor?
> 
> Doug


[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 2303 bytes --]

[TUHS] Re: etymology of yacc

[Wesley Parish]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1137 bytes --]

I thought that was probably the reason. Compiler-compilers weren't 
exactly news by that time ...

On 4/10/23 08:42, Bakul Shah wrote:
> From 
> https://www.computerworld.com/article/2534771/yacc--unix--and-advice-from--bell-labs-alumni-stephen-johnson.html 
>
>
>     *What made you name your parser generator in the form of an
>     acronym: Yet Another Compiler Compiler?* There were other
>     Compiler-compilers in use at Bell Labs, especially as part of the
>     Multics project. I was familiar with a version of McClure's TMG.
>     When Jeff Ullman heard about my program, he said in astonishment
>     "Another compiler-compiler?". Thus the name...
>
>> On Oct 2, 2023, at 6:25 PM, Douglas McIlroy 
>> <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Steve,
>>
>> Was Yacc an original coinage, or was it inspired by a similar acronym
>> for yet another whatever? The question is inspired by Yamoo, yet
>> another map of Orion, which is mentioned in today's NYT:
>> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/orion-nebula-webb-planets.html.
>> Do the two acronyms share a common ancestor?
>>
>> Doug
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3686 bytes --]