4 ms·
Exactly. If C hadn't been invented then someone would have invented it later under a different name. Because it's obvious people need a minimalistic portable
by emmelaich 9y ago
Exactly. If C hadn't been invented then someone would have invented it later under a different name.
Because it's obvious people need a minimalistic portable assembler.
- pjmlp 9y agoBefore C was invented there were already other companies writing OSes in high level languages, but yeah thanks to its victory now it gets all the credits. History is re-written by winners as usual.
- emmelaich 9y agoI wasn't thinking in terms of winners. But what were those other OSs and languages? Sounds interesting!
- pjmlp 9y agoYou can start here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Systems_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Systems_programming_l... Some examples, out of my head. - Burroughs, now being sold as Unisys ClearCase, used ESPOL, later replaced by NEWP, which already used the concept of UNSAFE code blocks; - IBM used PL/8 for their RISC research, before switching to C, when they decide to go commercial selling RISC hardware for UNIX workstations - VAX/VMS used Bliss - Xerox PARC started their research in BCPL, eventually moved to Mesa (later upgraded to Mesa/Cedar), these languages are the inspiration for Wirth's Modula-2 and Oberon languages - OS/400, nowadays known as IBM i, was developed in PL/S. New code started to be replaced by C++. It was probably the first OS to use a kernel level JIT with a portable bytecode for its executables. BitSavers and Archive web sites are full of scanned papers and manuals from these and other systems.