I wonder how much of C behavior is really explained by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson either disagreeing about something or just not feeling like doing something different at the time.
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I wonder how much of C behavior is really explained by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson either disagreeing about something or just not feeling like doing something different at the time.
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JohnMasheyreplied to Scott Williams π§ last edited by
@vwbusguy
Which specific examples did you have in mind? -
Scott Williams π§replied to JohnMashey last edited by
@JohnMashey There have been a few conversations going on today on Mastodon, but the most recent one I saw was this one:
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<?xml version="2.0"?>replied to Scott Williams π§ last edited by
@vwbusguy I'd go back in time just to bitch slap Ritchie so he could go back to the drawing board and maybe reconsider if he should make Unix at all (or at least C, but you know, one thing leads to another)
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Scott Williams π§replied to <?xml version="2.0"?> last edited by
@overanalytcl I actually think Unix and C are both petty neat and appreciate their contributions. Unix and C have both far exceeded their original anticipated scope.
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Scott Williams π§replied to Scott Williams π§ last edited by
@JohnMashey Also just musing to myself about the extent that Conway's Law may have applied.
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JohnMasheyreplied to Scott Williams π§ last edited by
@vwbusguy
Many decisions were of course driven by minimalism, by both ken+dmr philosophy and computer constraints. PDP-11/20: macx 56KB, shared between kernel and user (before my time). PDP-11/45 was real upgrade to 248KB max physical memory, but with real MMU allowing both kernel and users to each have 64KB I + 64KB D. Still not huge. Had they gotten PDP-10 they wanted, UNIX and C likely donβt happen:
https://techviser.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mashey.IEEE_.Micro_.2022.pdf -
@vwbusguy
And yes, Conway's Law applied (3rd bullet pt is extended variant, in talk first done in 1977. Ken+dmr were both fine computerscientists & incredsible programmers, but definitely minimalists, and with2 people doing a kernel, all that showed.
https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/bsdcon/mashey_small/sld026.html