Linus didn't write it. He's certainly modified it but it was written by others. For example the eval.c header sez: * written 1986 by Daniel Lawrence *

Linus didn't write it. He's certainly modified it but it was written by others. For example the eval.c header sez: * written 1986 by Daniel Lawrence * modified by Petri Kutvonen I'm sure someone else knows more about it's history.