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=-3.6 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 27877 invoked from network); 23 Nov 2021 02:31:11 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 23 Nov 2021 02:31:11 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id ED2659CC16; Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:30:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B37B9C76C; Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:28:35 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=mhorton-net.20210112.gappssmtp.com header.i=@mhorton-net.20210112.gappssmtp.com header.b="xarBbU7l"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C16B79C76C; Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:28:32 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-pj1-f52.google.com (mail-pj1-f52.google.com [209.85.216.52]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 12E339C280 for ; Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:28:32 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-pj1-f52.google.com with SMTP id np6-20020a17090b4c4600b001a90b011e06so1557120pjb.5 for ; Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:28:32 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mhorton-net.20210112.gappssmtp.com; s=20210112; h=message-id:date:mime-version:user-agent:subject:content-language:to :references:from:in-reply-to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=yvW3KPDXSJ7WTF9xcmh/mPNCsRBUrrp6yAAY6raDnS8=; b=xarBbU7lj3ksWGnJvjCr+5CAUVrSVeW2nrLLo3ahj6f/+w9m+6xK7FVL8O1EUs5K7E v30szk4xrlA8bzWhzOsyCOOnHUUWlSOCvjZH2I8UABOWUH/l2gPYkuUnX3K/RCXkwI// 8AB7qchhDlYo+Wg0VYYLKQ97xtmt3lcBOXuN2QtJOcqNezJw0swCcsb0bcZZR41RtpYl 2X8TcDfX61fX9UTdojQiBkBEIuwhtfo20/t4Egsf9TlVWRguWv/m49vtQjkSBsMaQ0U6 cuhNUjilchvBzfzgkvdYFP7nHBbToxB806WQQeS8WKQ1LQYVwQNVUmKCVLHEUu4ti1T2 dyuw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; h=x-gm-message-state:message-id:date:mime-version:user-agent:subject :content-language:to:references:from:in-reply-to :content-transfer-encoding; bh=yvW3KPDXSJ7WTF9xcmh/mPNCsRBUrrp6yAAY6raDnS8=; b=d84sC4037yWHMjfOD0eodyxfvNWlakqRmiy8OIS6UEUkemCjVQglPzyPK1fCeP+U1k BYK70CFLMvHgR+d+iqHo2pJKcsLul7EwRa/xFD5Vdw/xpL6zDg3swAzN+SHqtqXZnGat jUedAyqOO9N4C+gQJ0tD16QIdpNieZubSK09Q0DN5nuGE8PhnefBTU5UrBJ5RKwPall5 Bm41THuwdgJGobUHD/4+URayqSsly54hUFFJLa+Kqd1t8/gm5RM8s7EBqxzz29iD/lii /GGOFFmCkmKhbdwXpdHes7tYbCUso5RInEuMEyZYv8LyzEmoAxzaXNpgqDJicsEsw7cG usNA== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM531HZbWxBQlrUQVk0fxdeAEVwdFFTBoex4a190Q/2O+z4h/itdOf esIhlSXTWO0C+opJ4hNIJv1nl2oh6wfKcA== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJwzKtU6u1EwmKa083tKwuuc7fEJy7jq+KNs004G+O3A/SJYz2liCHGYYIWL/+6qP53pdObPhQ== X-Received: by 2002:a17:903:249:b0:143:c077:59d3 with SMTP id j9-20020a170903024900b00143c07759d3mr2694137plh.26.1637634511029; Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:28:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from ?IPV6:2600:8801:f004:f000:99cc:5de0:95d6:e343? ([2600:8801:f004:f000:99cc:5de0:95d6:e343]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id t4sm10377974pfj.13.2021.11.22.18.28.30 for (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 bits=128/128); Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:28:30 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:28:29 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/91.3.2 Content-Language: en-US To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org References: From: Mary Ann Horton In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] Book Recommendation 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" PL/I was my favorite mainframe programming language my last two years as an undergrad. I liked how it incorporated ideas from FORTRAN, ALGOL, and COBOL. My student job was to enhance a PL/I package for a History professor. As a grad student in 1976, my first job as a TA was to teach PL/I to undergrads. There were a lot of business students in the class. We thought PL/I was likely to be the future of business programming, as a better alternative to COBOL. I was turned on to V6 UNIX and C in 1977, and I forgot all about PL/I.     Mary Ann On 11/16/2021 6:57 AM, Douglas McIlroy wrote: > The following remark stirred old memories. Apologies for straying off > the path of TUHS. > >> I have gotten the impression that [PL/I] was a language that was beloved by no one. > As I was a designer of PL/I, an implementer of EPL (the preliminary > PL/I compiler used to build Multics), and author of the first PL/I > program to appear in the ACM Collected Algorithms, it's a bit hard to > admit that PL/I was "insignificant". I'm proud, though, of having > conceived the SIGNAL statement, which pioneered exception handling, > and the USES and SETS attributes, which unfortunately sank into > oblivion. I also spurred Bud Lawson to invent -> for pointer-chasing. > The former notation C(B(A)) became A->B->C. This was PL/I's gift to C. > > After the ACM program I never wrote another line of PL/I. > Gratification finally came forty years on when I met a retired > programmer who, unaware of my PL/I connection, volunteered that she > had loved PL/I above all other programming languages. > > Doug