Vaguely related, can anyone comment on the assertions that PL/I was considered "too slow" back in the old days, and that it was "too verbose for writing system code"? Excuse me? MVS system macros are stuffed with its close relative, PL/S!
I can see its size would make compiling slow on limited hardware, but I always found the compiled code ran pretty well, and the language supported all the bit-twiddling I needed without resorting to PL/S. I even wrote a PL/I hackpiece for laughs that effectively called data to issue SVC 99 without calling assembly (the obvious choice in those days). PL/S would have done it more nicely, but PL/I had the facilities to make it happen. I often wonder why it wasn't more popular. C felt like a step backward. Roops On Fri., Mar. 25, 2022, 00:06 CM Poncelet, < 000003e99a92061c-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > Yes - and it could not be called NPL as its further development was then > transferred to IBM Hursley in England. > > On 24/03/2022 12:45, Seymour J Metz wrote: > > FORTRAN VI -> NPL -> MPPL -> PL/I > > > > At the time I thought that MPPL was a hideous acronym. > > > > > > -- > > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > > > ________________________________________ > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on > behalf of CM Poncelet [000003e99a92061c-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu] > > Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 9:06 PM > > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > > Subject: Re: PL/I question > > > > +1 > > > > It was initially called Fortran VI, because it was considered too > > advanced to be called Fortran V (1962), then NPL (1964, but could not > > because it was the acronym of the National Physical Laboratory [or > > similar] in the UK,) and then PL/I - with the '/' from OS/360 and the > > Roman 'I' to preserve its originally having been called Fortran VI. > > > > > > > > On 23/03/2022 00:52, Phil Smith III wrote: > >> Bob Bridges wrote: > >> > >>> PL/1 was my first language. > >> > >> Only it's "PL/I". "Programming Language/One", but "PL/I". Just sayin'. > >> > >> > >> > >> It actually might have been PL/C on that Xerox 530. Soooo long ago. > >> > >> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >> . > >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > . > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
