6 ms·
BCPL, actually, given the really minimal computer resources the group that started it started out with. BCPL had one data type, the word, which for any given p
by hga 11y ago
BCPL, actually, given the really minimal computer resources the group that started it started out with. BCPL had one data type, the word, which for any given port was chosen to be the natural machine word size, like C's int ideally is.
Team UNIX(TM) continued that approach, since they also had meager computers to start with, a PDP-7 with I suspect not a lot of memory, then a PDP-11(/20) with the extra memory bank option, then a PDP-11/45, which while a big and fast minicomputer in it's day, still only allowed 64 KiB of instructions, 48 KiB of data, and 8 KiB of stack for a program (the latter was the usual way to split up data space with its 8 KiB page MMU).
- pjmlp 11y agoStill memory requirements had nothing to do with ignoring safety, given what was already possible with Algol in 1961.
- hga 11y agoWhen you start out with 256 36 bit words on a good day and never get more than 1,024, it can cramp your style: http://pastebin.com/UAQaWuWG http://pastebin.com/UAQaWuWG (by our very own nickpsecurity).
- pjmlp 11y agoHe used information given by me for that article. :) Just as info, here is the brochure of the B5000 from 1961. http://www.cs.virginia.edu/brochure/images/manuals/b5000/brochure/b5000_broch.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/brochure/images/manuals/b5000/bro...