On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 3:08 PM, Mike Orr <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 12:21 PM, Mike Orr <[email protected]> wrote: > > C was written in order to write Unix. > > That's what I read in the 80s but it turns out it's slightly inaccurate. > > Randolph Bentson wrote: > > But the creation of Unix preceded the creation of C. > > "Early versions of the operating system were written > > in assembly languate, but during the the summer of > > 1973, it was rewritten in C."[1] > > > > [1] "UNIX time-sharing system", p1907, The Bell > > System Technical Journal, July-August 1978 > > So C was written in order to write a *non-assembly* version of Unix. > IM(Seldom)HO C is a version of assembly language. :) The * operator in C closely mirrors the "indirect addressing" address mode that was common in DEC computers that UNIX initially ran on. > > -- > Mike Orr <[email protected]> > -- Some radio waves were modulated in the creation of this email.
