Re: ADA made me hate programming

[anon@anon.org]

In <op.ve6n2eysanduac@home-2l5xxxt7p3>, Wilson <leon.winslow@notes.udayton.edu> writes:
>On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:11:41 -0400, <anon@anon.org> wrote:
>
>>Plus:
>> Reference: "The Development of the C Language" by Dennis M. Ritchie
>>
>>         As for Algol, Ritchie states: "BCPL, B, and C all fit firmly
>> in the traditional procedural family typified by Fortran and Algol 60."
>> He never states that Algol or Fortran was used to build C.
>>
>>
>
>C is a structured assembly language for the DEC PDP 11.  If you doubt  
>this, go back and examine the PDP 11 assembly language.  All of that ++  
>and -- are a standard part of the assembly language addressing modes.  In  
>particular, all of those indirect references (pointers) were necessary  
>because the PDP 11 came with a 16 bit instruction set and only 8 bits were  
>allowd for the data address.   Fortran, Cobol and every other higher level  
>language of the time omitted pointers because almost all of their  
>addressing was direct.  (You might also want to compare C to Bliss another  
>sturctured assembly language for the PDP 11 and then ask which language  
>copied from where.  The two languages offer an interesting contrast.)   
>Richie started on the PDP 7, but quickly moved to the PDP 11 and may have  
>forgotten the details that led to the final result.

PDP-11 was just a type of Language Machine.  One of many concepts that 
lead to the creation of the Lisp Machine in the late 70s and 80s.  Just wish 
we could get a gpl version of the intel microcode compiler, then one could 
turn the intel CPU into a Language Machine.

>
>Also, before you quote Richie or any other author, you need to read a  
>peice by Isaak Asimov on how authors are the last people  to understand  
>what they did and how they did it.  A good author creates much better than  
>he/she knew at the time.  Later he/she tries to explain what they did and  
>why; in the process, he/she creates a new,logical story.  The author  
>beieves the new story and it sounds so good that almost evryone else does  
>also.  Human nature is a funny thing.
>


Before quoting the late "Isaak Asimov" you should read "Janet Asimov" 
his wife on this concept. Janet is better than her husband in her 
vision of the future and mankind. Isaak suggested that without his wife, 
his visions would have imploded into a black hole.






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