* [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) [not found] ` <30368.1613327707837544705@groups.io> @ 2021-02-14 19:08 ` Dan Cross 2021-02-16 6:31 ` John Gilmore 0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread From: Dan Cross @ 2021-02-14 19:08 UTC (permalink / raw) To: TUHS main list [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1561 bytes --] FYI, interesting. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Tom Van Vleck <thvv@multicians.org> Date: Sun, Feb 14, 2021, 12:35 PM Subject: Re: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) To: <multicians@groups.io> Remember the story that Ken Thompson had written a language called "Bon" which was one of the forerunners of "B" which then led to "new B" and then to "C"? I just found Ken Thompson's "Bon Users Manual" dated Feb 1, 1969, as told to M. D. McIlroy and R. Morris in Jerry Saltzer's files online at MIT. http://people.csail.mit.edu/saltzer/Multics/MHP-Saltzer-060508/filedrawers/180.btl-misc/Scan%204.PDF _._,_._,_ ------------------------------ Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4231) <https://groups.io/g/multicians/message/4231> | Reply To Group <multicians@groups.io?subject=Re:%20Re%3A%20%5Bmulticians%5D%20History%20of%20C%20%28with%20Multics%20reference%29> | Reply To Sender <thvv@multicians.org?subject=Private:%20Re:%20Re%3A%20%5Bmulticians%5D%20History%20of%20C%20%28with%20Multics%20reference%29> | Mute This Topic <https://groups.io/mt/78835051/481017> | New Topic <https://groups.io/g/multicians/post> ------------------------------ -- sent via multicians@groups.io -- more Multics info at https::// multicians.org/ ------------------------------ Your Subscription <https://groups.io/g/multicians/editsub/481017> | Contact Group Owner <multicians+owner@groups.io> | Unsubscribe <https://groups.io/g/multicians/leave/5961246/1924879241/xyzzy> [ crossd@gmail.com] _._,_._,_ [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 2825 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) 2021-02-14 19:08 ` [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) Dan Cross @ 2021-02-16 6:31 ` John Gilmore 2021-02-17 3:49 ` John Cowan 0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread From: John Gilmore @ 2021-02-16 6:31 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Dan Cross; +Cc: TUHS main list > Remember the story that Ken Thompson had written a language called "Bon" > which was one of the forerunners of "B" which then led to "new B" and then > to "C"? > > I just found Ken Thompson's "Bon Users Manual" dated Feb 1, 1969, as told > to M. D. McIlroy and R. Morris > in Jerry Saltzer's files online at MIT. > http://people.csail.mit.edu/saltzer/Multics/MHP-Saltzer-060508/filedrawers/180.btl-misc/Scan%204.PDF There was clearly a lot of cross-fertilization between early APL systems and Bon. (APL was the first computer language I dug deeply into.) Some of the common elements are the interactive execution environment, untyped variables, and automatic application of builtin functions (like +) across all elements of arrays. John ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) 2021-02-16 6:31 ` John Gilmore @ 2021-02-17 3:49 ` John Cowan 2021-02-17 4:14 ` Dave Horsfall 0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread From: John Cowan @ 2021-02-17 3:49 UTC (permalink / raw) To: John Gilmore; +Cc: TUHS main list [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 870 bytes --] On Tue, Feb 16, 2021 at 1:32 AM John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> wrote: > There was clearly a lot of cross-fertilization between early APL systems > and Bon. (APL was the first computer language I dug deeply into.) Some > of the common elements are the interactive execution environment, > untyped variables, and automatic application of builtin functions (like > +) across all elements of arrays. > In particular, doing gotos by assigning to a variable is very old-school APL. John Cowan http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org Is a chair finely made tragic or comic? Is the portrait of Mona Lisa good if I desire to see it? Is the bust of Sir Philip Crampton lyrical, epical or dramatic? If a man hacking in fury at a block of wood make there an image of a cow, is that image a work of art? If not, why not? --Stephen Dedalus [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 2046 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) 2021-02-17 3:49 ` John Cowan @ 2021-02-17 4:14 ` Dave Horsfall 2021-02-17 5:51 ` [TUHS] " Bakul Shah 0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread From: Dave Horsfall @ 2021-02-17 4:14 UTC (permalink / raw) To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society On Tue, 16 Feb 2021, John Cowan wrote: > In particular, doing gotos by assigning to a variable is very old-school > APL. I spent a fun year with APL\360 in CompSci, but could you please elaborate on that? I know; this is an ASCII window on my MacBook so you won't be able to show the code :-) ObOF: Some joker once pinned an 80-column card with APL on it (yes, it can be done) with a job card behind it to the Computer Centre's notice board; under it was the inscription "Who said that APL programs weren't transparent?" -- Dave, who enjoyed that write-only language ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) 2021-02-17 4:14 ` Dave Horsfall @ 2021-02-17 5:51 ` Bakul Shah 2021-02-18 3:23 ` John Cowan 0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread From: Bakul Shah @ 2021-02-17 5:51 UTC (permalink / raw) To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society On Feb 16, 2021, at 8:14 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org> wrote: > > On Tue, 16 Feb 2021, John Cowan wrote: > >> In particular, doing gotos by assigning to a variable is very old-school APL. > > I spent a fun year with APL\360 in CompSci, but could you please elaborate on that? I know; this is an ASCII window on my MacBook so you won't be able to show the code :-) The goto operator is "-> label", while assignment is "var <- value" In Ken Iverson's 1962 book "A Programming language" he shows branches by showing flowchart like arrow connecting a source stmt to target but he doesn't use any goto or branch operator symbol or labels. So not sure what John means. As a grad student I did part time programming for a prof doing research in cancer epidemiology. I convinced him to let me use APL instead of PL/I but the "funny money" quickly ran out and it was back to PL/I! ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) 2021-02-17 5:51 ` [TUHS] " Bakul Shah @ 2021-02-18 3:23 ` John Cowan 0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread From: John Cowan @ 2021-02-18 3:23 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Bakul Shah; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 975 bytes --] On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 12:52 AM Bakul Shah <bakul@iitbombay.org> wrote: > The goto operator is "-> label", while assignment is "var <- value" > I overstated the case. However, goto is in fact "-> expression", where expression is an integer scalar referring to a line (implicitly numbered from 1 upwards) of the current definition; a goto to a nonexistent line such as 0 exits the current definition or program. Labels were added later, and are essentially local variables bound to the line number they appear on. Modern APL uses structured-programming constructs like all other post-Ratfor languages. John Cowan http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org One of the oil men in heaven started a rumor of a gusher down in hell. All the other oil men left in a hurry for hell. As he gets to thinking about the rumor he had started he says to himself there might be something in it after all. So he leaves for hell in a hurry. --Carl Sandburg [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 2182 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2021-02-18 3:25 UTC | newest] Thread overview: 6+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed) -- links below jump to the message on this page -- [not found] <1607711516.31417164@apps.rackspace.com> [not found] ` <30368.1613327707837544705@groups.io> 2021-02-14 19:08 ` [TUHS] Fwd: [multicians] History of C (with Multics reference) Dan Cross 2021-02-16 6:31 ` John Gilmore 2021-02-17 3:49 ` John Cowan 2021-02-17 4:14 ` Dave Horsfall 2021-02-17 5:51 ` [TUHS] " Bakul Shah 2021-02-18 3:23 ` John Cowan
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