3 ms·

Maybe Modula-3 is too distant from Mesa to make this a valid point, but if not, there's a discussion to be had about why the Mesa-influenced Modula-3 (or the ar

by theoh 10y ago

Maybe Modula-3 is too distant from Mesa to make this a valid point, but if not, there's a discussion to be had about why the Mesa-influenced Modula-3 (or the arguably essentially similar Ada) didn't sweep all before it in the 90s. Is it that the "small set of sharp tools" provided by C, and the "safe and somewhat onerous discipline" provided by Modula-3 represent two points on an evolution that's converging towards the ideal systems programming language? Or maybe the language level is the wrong level at which to be considering this, as if we were analyzing prose at the level of phonemes?

Animats 10y ago
No, it's that Compaq bought DEC, and then HP bought Compaq, and that ended the DEC Systems Research Center in downtown Palo Alto. That's where most Modula-3 development took place.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Systems_Research_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Systems_Research_Center
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Lucky HP has kept all DEC stuff alive, so anyone that wants to delve into Modula-2+, Modula-3 and everything that was built with them just needs to dive into the HP Labs repository.
pjmlp 10y ago
Many of the Mesa researchers left Xerox PARC to join DEC. There they created Modula-2+ with input from Niklaus Wirth that had created Modula and Modula-2 after his sabatical year at Xerox PARC. Modula-2+ eventually became Modula-3, which was used for creating Spin OS, distributed objects network protocols and other interesting goodies. Meanwhile at Xerox, Mesa evolved into Cedar. Niklaus Wirth on his second visit learned about this new system and created Oberon when he returned to ETHZ. Oberon then gave birth to Oberon-2, Active Oberon and Component Pascal. The Gadgets framework in version System3 was great for a mid-90's workstation OS. Nowadays I would say that C# is the spiritual successor of Modula-3, with Singularity, Midori and now .NET Native. With Go taking the role of spiritual sucessor of Oberon. Everyone should try to delve into books and papers from Burroughs, Xerox PARC, ETHZ, UK Royal Navy, DEC for an alternative view of doing systems programming the right way.

by theoh 10y ago

Animats 10y ago

No, it's that Compaq bought DEC, and then HP bought Compaq, and that ended the DEC Systems Research Center in downtown Palo Alto. That's where most Modula-3 development took place.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Systems_Research_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Systems_Research_Center

pjmlp 10y ago
Lucky HP has kept all DEC stuff alive, so anyone that wants to delve into Modula-2+, Modula-3 and everything that was built with them just needs to dive into the HP Labs repository.

pjmlp 10y ago

Many of the Mesa researchers left Xerox PARC to join DEC. There they created Modula-2+ with input from Niklaus Wirth that had created Modula and Modula-2 after his sabatical year at Xerox PARC. Modula-2+ eventually became Modula-3, which was used for creating Spin OS, distributed objects network protocols and other interesting goodies. Meanwhile at Xerox, Mesa evolved into Cedar. Niklaus Wirth on his second visit learned about this new system and created Oberon when he returned to ETHZ. Oberon then gave birth to Oberon-2, Active Oberon and Component Pascal. The Gadgets framework in version System3 was great for a mid-90's workstation OS. Nowadays I would say that C# is the spiritual successor of Modula-3, with Singularity, Midori and now .NET Native. With Go taking the role of spiritual sucessor of Oberon. Everyone should try to delve into books and papers from Burroughs, Xerox PARC, ETHZ, UK Royal Navy, DEC for an alternative view of doing systems programming the right way.