From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.1 (2015-04-28) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.1 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 5222395a for ; Tue, 26 Jun 2018 17:54:59 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id E292AA1895; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 03:54:57 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4F815A1845; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 03:54:30 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id BD796A1845; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 03:54:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.math.utah.edu (mail.math.utah.edu [155.101.98.135]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5E82DA183B for ; Wed, 27 Jun 2018 03:54:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: from gamma.math.utah.edu (gamma.math.utah.edu [155.101.96.20]) by mail.math.utah.edu (8.14.8/8.14.8) with ESMTP id w5QHsONL026453; Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:54:24 -0600 (MDT) Received: from gamma.math.utah.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gamma.math.utah.edu (8.15.1/8.15.1) with ESMTP id w5QHsO48141795; Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:54:24 -0600 Received: (from beebe@localhost) by gamma.math.utah.edu (8.15.1/8.15.1/Submit) id w5QHsOXF141793; Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:54:24 -0600 Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:54:24 -0600 From: "Nelson H. F. Beebe" To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-US-Mail: "Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB, University of Utah, 155 S 1400 E RM 233, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA" X-Telephone: +1 801 581 5254 X-FAX: +1 801 581 4148 X-URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe Message-ID: X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.3.8 (mail.math.utah.edu [155.101.98.135]); Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:54:24 -0600 (MDT) Subject: [TUHS] PDP-11 legacy, C, and modern architectures 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: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" There is a provocative article published today in the lastest issue of Communications of the ACM: David Chisnall C is not a low-level language Comm ACM 61(7) 44--48 July 2018 https://doi.org/10.1145/3209212 Because C is the implementation language of choice for a substantial part of the UNIX world, it seems useful to announce the new article to TUHS list members. David Chisnall discusses the PDP-11 legacy, the design of C, and the massive parallelism available in modern processors that is not so easy to exploit in C, particularly, portable C. He also observes: >> ... >> A processor designed purely for speed, not for a compromise between >> speed and C support, would likely support large numbers of threads, >> have wide vector units, and have a much simpler memory model. Running >> C code on such a system would be problematic, so, given the large >> amount of legacy C code in the world, it would not likely be a >> commercial success. >> ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Nelson H. F. Beebe Tel: +1 801 581 5254 - - University of Utah FAX: +1 801 581 4148 - - Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB Internet e-mail: beebe@math.utah.edu - - 155 S 1400 E RM 233 beebe@acm.org beebe@computer.org - - Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/ - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------