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> First we learned a bit about IBM OS, and then we learned PL/I which was IBM's own programming language. It was a more modern version of Cobol with features th
by tomcam 3y ago
> First we learned a bit about IBM OS, and then we learned PL/I which was IBM's own programming language. It was a more modern version of Cobol with features that Cobol did not yet have (but would get later), like making tables and queries.
Wait, what? No. Much more like Pascal/ALGOL.
Absolutely wonderful interview though
- samatman 3y agoIt certainly wasn't like Pascal in 1969, given that the first release of that language was in 1970. If it's 1969, and you didn't happen to have heard of ALGOL, what you know is COBOL, FORTRAN, Assembly, and maybe BASIC: then yeah, PL/I looks like a more modern version of COBOL.
- Merrill 3y agoPL/I had features from COBOL, FORTRAN and ALGOL. One advantage over FORTRAN IV was that PL/I had complex number types and the associated math libraries. This made certain engineering calculations much easier, for example, transmission line calculations. It suffered from being IBM proprietary and from its size and complexity, which were too great for the early wave of minicomputers. Hence the rise of the much smaller and more open C language.
- pklausler 3y agoFortran II had complex.