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=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 12122 invoked from network); 23 Nov 2021 22:27:11 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 23 Nov 2021 22:27:11 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id D1ECD9C793; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:27:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80E2B93D29; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:24:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id A232693D29; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:24:34 +1000 (AEST) X-Greylist: delayed 1805 seconds by postgrey-1.36 at minnie.tuhs.org; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:24:33 AEST Received: from firemail.de (firemail.de [88.99.137.45]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 1410393D1B for ; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:24:32 +1000 (AEST) Received: from firemail.de (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by firemail.de (b1gMailServer) with ESMTP id 74E0132C for ; Tue, 23 Nov 2021 22:54:26 +0100 (CET) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2021 22:54:26 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: X-Mailer: b1gMail/7.4.0 X-Sender-IP: 46.94.115.45 From: "Thomas Paulsen" To: "Mary Ann Horton" In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline X-Abuse-Report: abuse@emailn.de 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: , Reply-To: Thomas Paulsen Cc: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Hi, I remember that PL-1 was regarded in the 70-80ths as a superior programming= language, incorporating the best concepts of the languages Mary enumerated= . There even was a PL-1 inspired SPL language by siemens for the bs2000 mai= nframe os including bit fields etc. for system programming like C. Large pa= rts of the start-amadeus ticketing-software were written in SPL. Thus PL-1 = and its derivates were very high-ranked in the 70ths and 80ths, regarded as= the ultimate ratio of the programming languages by many mainframe experts = in those days. I mean we are now entering the mainframe horizon, totally different to our = UNIX and C mini computer, workstation and PC world we all are firm with. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------------------ 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=20 undergrads. There were a lot of business students in the class. We=20 thought PL/I was likely to be the future of business programming, as a=20 better alternative to COBOL. I was turned on to V6 UNIX and C in 1977, and I forgot all about PL/I. =C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 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