bagpiper@csvax.caltech.EDU (06/25/87)
To whoever stated that this net was for Generic C and not for
all of the vagaries contained within other C's (specifically
C's aimed towards MS/PC-Dos machines):
What is Generic C?? Is it K&R? Is it H&S? Is it the
currently PROPOSED Ansi Standard DRAFT?? Is the the original
C that was written for the PDP 11/10?? Tell me, what is
Generic C?? I realize why you don't want to hear about IBM
C, but *I* am getting Sick and tired of hearing about Vax C.
C has outgrown its roots and is not any longer just a VAX
UNIX language. All it takes is a couple of keystokes
(depending on how you mailer works) to delete a message. If
you push youself far enough you might even learn a little bit
about a different area of computer science...it will help you
pull your head out of whatever computer/OS specific area you
are currently tied to.
Thanks,
Michael Hunter UUCP : ....{seismo, rutgers, ames}!cit-vax!oxy!bagpiper
Box 241 ARPA : oxy!bagpiper@csvax.caltech.edu
Occidental College BITNET: oxy!bagpiper@hamlet.bitnet
Los Angeles, CA 90041 CSNET : oxy!bagpiper%csvax.caltech.edu@relay.cs.netmason@Pescadero.ARPA (Tony Mason) (06/25/87)
In article <8015@brl-adm.ARPA> oxy!bagpiper@csvax.caltech.EDU (Michael Paul Hunter) writes: > > What is Generic C?? Is it K&R? Is it H&S? Is it the > currently PROPOSED Ansi Standard DRAFT?? Is the the original > C that was written for the PDP 11/10?? ^^^^^^ PDP-8, at least, maybe even earlier. Ask Dennis.
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (06/28/87)
> > What is Generic C?? Is it K&R? Is it H&S? Is it the > > currently PROPOSED Ansi Standard DRAFT?? Is the the original > > C that was written for the PDP 11/10?? > > PDP-8, at least, maybe even earlier. Ask Dennis. No, not PDP-8. Unix first ran on the PDP-7, but I don't believe there was ever a C implementation for it. There was an interpreter for B, C's direct ancestor. The next stage was the PDP-11/20, the first 11, but the system was still in assembler; B existed and got some use. According to the BSTJ paper, C came about because B's degenerate type structure was poorly suited to the 11 and especially poorly suited to floating-point on the 11. That sounds to me like C evolved when the 11/45 was at least on the horizon, because the 11/20 had no floating point. (There was floating-point software for it, but that used 6-byte numbers and the BSTJ paper alludes to the 4-byte and 8-byte types which were introduced with the 11/45.) I think it's fair to say that the 11/45 was the major target of the original C, although it may have run on the 11/20 as a temporary measure. -- Mars must wait -- we have un- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology finished business on the Moon. {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry