acm@bu-cs.BU.EDU (ACM) (10/08/87)
In article <227@trwrc.UUCP> agnew@trwrc.UUCP (R.A. Agnew) writes: >In article <13211@bu-cs.BU.EDU> madd@bucsb.bu.edu (Jim "Jack" Frost) writes: [previously it was said that C/UNIX was written by engineers for engineers, and to prove this the author said to look at the C run time library and check out the bessel functions and such. This was my reply:] >> >>What bessel and error functions in the C run time library? Having a >>pretty good notion of the history of C/UNIX, I think you're confused. > >I think you're confused. There's not a Bell systems programmer's manual out >there without j0(), jn(), graph, and plot since before Version 7. Better >check again! Ok, you're right. The functions exist. On BSD systems, their in the FORTRAN library. On AT&T, they are in the MATH library. Neither system has them in the C library. They, therefore, are NOT in the "C run time library" in either case. UNIX was designed by programmers for programmers. It was not intended for engineers. I offer as proof this excerpt from _The_UNIX_ _Programming_Environment_ by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike, pp. vii-viii: "The UNIX(tm) operating system started on a cast-off DEC PDP-7 at Bell Laboratories in 1969. Ken Thompson, with ideas and support from Rudd Canaday, Doug McIlroy, Joe Ossanna, and Dennis Ritchie, wrote a small general-purpose time-sharing system comfortable enough to attract enthusiastic users and eventually enough credibility for the purchase of a larger machine -- a PDP-11/20. One of the early users was Ritchie, who helped move the system to the PDP-11 in 1970. Ritchie also designed and wrote a compiler for the C programming language. In 1973, Ritchie and Thompson rewrote the UNIX kernel in C, breaking from the tradition that system software is written in assembly language. With that rewrite, the system became essentially what it is today. "Around 1974 it was licensed to universities 'for educational purposes' and a few years later became available for general use. [...]" [1.5 paragraphs deleted] "What makes the UNIX sytem so successful? We can discern several reasons. [...] Finally, and most important, it is a *good* operating system, especially for programmers. [...] "...what makes it effective is an approach to programming, a philosophy of using the computer. [...]" [paragraph deleted] "We are aming at individual programmers, in the hope that, by making their work more productive, we can in turn make the work of groups more productive. Although our main target is programmers, the first four or five chapters do not require programming experience to be understood, so they should be helpful to other users as well." ---------- I trust you didn't miss the references to programmers. There was not even a mention of engineers in the entire preface. I rest my case. (For those of you who put up with this even though it isn't really PC related, please forgive me. It really belonged as a mail reply but when I'm publically flamed I publically flame back.) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Jim Frost * The Madd Hacker | UUCP: ..!harvard!bu-cs!bucsb!madd H H | ARPA: madd@bucsb.bu.edu H-C-C-OH <- heehee +---------+---------------------------------- H H | "We are strangers in a world we never made"