THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE B ABSTRACT B is a computer language designed by D. M. Ritchie and K. L. Thompson, for primarily non-numeric applications such as system programming. These typically involve complex logical decision-making, and processing of integers, characters, and bit strings. On the H6070 TSS system, B programs are usually much easier to write and understand than assembly language programs, and object code efficiency is almost as good. Implementation of simple TSS subsystems is an especially appropriate use for B. This technical report contains a description of the MH-TSS (Honeywell 6070) version of B (by S. C. Johnson), and a tutorial introduction to most of the features of the language (by B. W. Kernighan). Ken Thompson The principal inventor of the Unix operating system and author of the B language, the predecessor of C. In the early days Ken used to hand-cut Unix distribution tapes, often with a note that read "Love, ken". Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalised, because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is widely understood (on Usenet in particular) that without a last name "Ken" refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, Dennis without last name means Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr). Ken was first hired to work on the Multics project, which was a huge production with many people working on it. Multics was supposed to support hundreds of on-line logins but could barely handle three. In 1969, when Bell Labs withdrew from the project, Ken got fed up with Multics and went off to write his own operating system. People said "well, if zillions of people wrote Multics, then an OS written by one guy must be Unix!". There was some joking about eunichs as well. Ken's wife Bonnie and son Corey (then 18 months old) went to visit family in San Diego. Ken spent one week each on the kernel, file system, etc., and finished UNIX in one month along with developing SPACEWAR (or was it "Space Travel"?). -----Original Message----- From: Howard C. Berkowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 5:40 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: another OT: why you UNIX guys look down on we NT guys? [7:6675] >Want to make any UNIX-head apoplex? Remind them that DOS is UNIX subset. >The multi-tasking & multi-threaded functions were dropped because there >weren't enough bits in the registers for the Intel 8088. These were added >back in when the hardware for PC's was available. However, they did add >better mnemonics for the UNIX commands so 'ls' became 'dir'. 'Easy' >translates to 'stupid' somehow. But even so it's UNIX! DOS is UNIX! >tee-hee. > >DOS clowns. >UNIX dweebs. >NT geeks. >Cisco nerds. >Where's Diane Arbus when we need her? > >- susan Get back to the origins of the name UNIX. Pronounced aloud, is there an English word that comes to mind? The ancestor of UNIX is MULTICS. UNIX is castrated MULTICS. Extra credit for the two predecessors of C. (No, the first one isn't A). Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=6760&t=6760 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
