Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 28 Jan 2002 23:11:19 -0500
From:      Andrew Lankford <arlankfo@141.com>
To:        freebsd-chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   An interesting man page from version 3 unix.
Message-ID:  <20020128211115.SM01296@141.com>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

Came upon this find while rummaging through v3man.tar.gz from www.tuhs.org.

I wonder why it's referred to as an "interpreter"....
  

NAME      bc -- B interpreter

SYNOPSIS  bc [ -c ] sfile1.b ... ofile1 ...

DESCRIPTION    bc  is  the  UNIX B interpreter.  It accepts three
types of arguments:

Arguments whose names end with ".b" are assumed to  be  B  source
programs;  they  are  compiled, and the object program is left on
the file sfile1.o (i.e.  the file  whose  name  is  that  of  the
source with ".o" substituted for ".b").

Other arguments (except for "-c") are assumed to be either loader
flag arguments, or B-compatible object programs,  typically  pro-
duced  by an earlier bc run, or perhaps libraries of B-compatible
routines.  These programs, together with the results of any  com-
pilations  specified,  are loaded (in the order given) to produce
an executable program with name a.out.

The "-c" argument suppresses the loading phase, as does any  syn-
tax error in any of the routines being compiled.

The language itself is described in [1].

The  future  of  B  is  uncertain.  The language has been totally
eclipsed by the newer, more powerful, more  compact,  and  faster
language C.

FILES          file.b              input file
a.out               loaded output
b.tmp1              temporary (deleted)
b.tmp2              temporary (deleted)
/usr/lang/bdir/b[ca]     translator
/usr/lang/bdir/brt[12]   runtime initialization
/usr/lib/libb.a          builtin functions, etc.
/usr/lang/bdir/bilib.a   interpreter library

SEE ALSO  [1] K. Thompson; MM-72-1271-1; Users' Reference to B.
cc(I)

DIAGNOSTICS    see [1].

BUGS      Certain external initializations are illegal.  (In par-
ticular: strings and addresses of externals.)























To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020128211115.SM01296>