phipps@garth.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (07/19/89)
In article <695@bbking.KSP.Unisys.COM>, rmarks@KSP.Unisys.COM (Richard Marks) writes: > >For the 1100's we use [...] a bit of an language called PLUS >(Programming Language for Univac Systems). >PLUS is the expected ALGOL derivative and resembles PASCAL. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PLUS dates from the years when a name beginning "Programming Language ...", especially if "..." included a "/", identified a language *expected* to be a direct derivative of "Programming Language One": PL/I. PL/I was a major descendant (some call it a "mongrelization") of FORTRAN and COBOL, in addition to Algol. Its earliest working name was FORTRAN VI, but it was introduced as the "New Programming Language": NPL, to associate it with IBM's then-upcoming "New Product Line", later known as "System/360". It remained "NPL" until the National Physical Lab (NPL) in the U.K. objected, resulting in renaming the language "PL/I". That turf scuffle in 1965 foreshadowed today's legal climate, but fortunately did not burden us with "PL/I (tm) International Business Machines Corporation" (cf. "Ada", "dBase"). Hmmm. Maybe I should write "NPL (tm) National Physical Laboratory, U.K." :-(. -- [The foregoing may or may not represent the position, if any, of my employer, ] [ who is identified solely to allow the reader to account for personal biases.] Clay Phipps Intergraph APD: 2400#4 Geng Road, Palo Alto, CA 93403; 415/494-8800 UseNet: {apple,ingr,pyramid,sri-unix}!garth!phipps EcoNet: cphipps