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,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 20955 invoked from network); 3 Dec 2020 20:32:12 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 3 Dec 2020 20:32:12 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 77BC19CA68; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 06:32:05 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 87F539CA4B; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 06:31:31 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=fail reason="signature verification failed" (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=dartmouth.edu header.i=@dartmouth.edu header.b="tiGNzT/Z"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id A17679CA4B; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 06:31:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-qt1-f182.google.com (mail-qt1-f182.google.com [209.85.160.182]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id EFD2C9CA4A for ; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 06:31:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-qt1-f182.google.com with SMTP id p12so2377209qtp.7 for ; Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:31:26 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=dartmouth.edu; s=google1; h=mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=3Ue0fU2/RTKnG0KZkpZg8YgAaHsQoHHP9iLRY3dAZLw=; b=tiGNzT/ZDW0BzbBWFCulFM3JVlrIax+VxdFoMyLYsuGXHNW+MLZnEQzbRuV5GF4qXS +oNaIZUXkJxDhiRoyLf1FXlmMrEDjSDYO1JKB8/ukLCVjWiMYiLAl3dyE4hI/joUe1Lw Qxr0+T4NEX8Z6UCLUvX+xp7bZpXID1/HMq/UoIrr6GuzN+boAnK6R4VU7M8qhgkkodNu Ini17XkiGcC4fdX9jhQgjrza+RjCLCSMkUkxP9BTpcI9lNeC5Zi38K2ndr1dDOdO1GQP OUUMRckY/SnKv1ZaRZ1w4E+ETcG/oOA/XOharpVd1DKOg4fEcIv2rB8Qsj8PDWluo3W6 kRLA== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date :message-id:subject:to; bh=3Ue0fU2/RTKnG0KZkpZg8YgAaHsQoHHP9iLRY3dAZLw=; b=sGAPgaCVanwJ3XukoK2/SiPYhyRoZvfLx/frV66mKcxTU5OovkeVdxhkszfBsJafAS uoJyTQhIAGULxdeov5PtAMRNdpwJkBVpki01TwHNvkDMfEgblBm4Mr691z2vwjA/tyZR kenfWr77M5WoyCAvF5khYDb9F610KJKFqrVYpAPN0ypXCadpfR0uprxskTq86yumryCK 6zXGIhKjub6tyqhCciX2ZNJMAfdkawz1nFVIuKkLuwIaRiQgiCx5x16gGDcDsIfeXJ4n JUQVpugjKz2pNmg4DrKVkZD96sIIO03EjDBIIQFuaxF9FoNxbHhs8lhPpXnj+VkO6pdH Ynhw== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM533G1oRv9GAXfn3Ef+faw7V4JuEu4j53PwHMW19d9sRi4mCDGuOg 92gi1c4+oLgSTVV3PCyBGQGRsvtLv+pag/pscyUjmmLyqx3cbw== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJy7INht2UgMMoNd8sEVgEdB43nbB16dSi+Pct3PqsCSn/RP95XQclq/8zSaxpmaEsNd8pO7lPhV5+k35i2oXiM= X-Received: by 2002:ac8:3645:: with SMTP id n5mr5103320qtb.225.1607027485507; Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:31:25 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: In-Reply-To: From: M Douglas McIlroy Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2020 15:31:14 -0500 Message-ID: To: tuhs@tuhs.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Subject: Re: [TUHS] The UNIX Command Language (1976) 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: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" There's a back story. The paper appears in the proceedings of a conference held in London in 1973, a few months after the advent of pipes. While preparing the presentation, Ken was inspired to invent and install the pipe operator. His talk wouldn't have been nearly as compelling had it been expressed in the original pipeline syntax (for which I take the blame). References to eqn (v5), bc (v6), and ratfor (v7) obviously postdate the London conference. Ken must have edited--or re-created--the transcript for the proceedings sometime after v6 (May, 1975). Bibliographic citations are missing. Can they be resurrected? Reference 137, about Unix itself, probably refers to a presentation by Ken and Dennis at SOSP in January1973. Alas, only an abstract of the talk appears in the conference proceedings. But the abstract does contain the potent and often-repeated sentence, "It offers a number of features seldom found even in larger operating systems, including ... inter-process IO ..." The talk--in Yorktown Heights--was memorable, and so was a ride to the same place in Ken's 'vette. (I can't recall whether the two happened on the same occasion.) Given that the talk at SOSP preceded the talk in London, and that the Unix manual was widely distributed by (1976) when the revised London talk was printed, the claim that "The Unix command language" was the first publication of Unix seems hyperbolic. In no way, though, does this detract from the inherent interest of the paper. Doug