From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Sun Nov 14 15:51:40 2010
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C452D1065673
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:51:40 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com)
Received: from mail.r-bonomi.com (ns2.r-bonomi.com [204.87.227.129])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9670D8FC12
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:51:40 +0000 (UTC)
Received: (from bonomi@localhost)
	by mail.r-bonomi.com (8.14.3/rdb1) id oAEFnVFm002262;
	Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:49:31 -0600 (CST)
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:49:31 -0600 (CST)
From: Robert Bonomi <bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com>
Message-ID: <201011141549.oAEFnVFm002262@mail.r-bonomi.com>
To: perrin@apotheon.com, perryh@pluto.rain.com
Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: History of C (Re: Why do you use a devil as a mascot?)
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:51:40 -0000

> From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org  Sun Nov 14 03:09:59 2010
> Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 01:00:35 -0800
> From: perryh@pluto.rain.com
> To: perrin@apotheon.com
> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
> Subject: History of C (Re: Why do you use a devil as a mascot?)
>
> Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 02:32:04PM -0600, Robert Bonomi wrote:
> > > should the one-leter name for 'c++' be 'd' or 'p'?
> > > (nobody could decide/agree, which *IS* why it is 'c++'
> > > to this day)
> >
> > ... D is already another programming language ...
>
> It wasn't back then :)
>
> > I don't know what this P has to do with it.
>
> You have revealed yourself as a newbie :)
>
> In the beginning there was CPL, the "Combined Programming Language."
> It was large enough to be infeasible to implement using then-current
> technologies, so the "Bootstrap Combined Programming Language" (BCPL)
> was invented, with the intent that the first CPL compiler would be
> written in BCPL.
>
> CPL never amounted to much -- I don't know whether it was ever
> implemented at all -- but BCPL developed a following.

Trivia:  BCPL was the _first_ programming language to use 'curly braces'
to group statements.  It also used '//' to indroduce a 'single-line comment'.

>                                                        Someone
> (at Bell Labs?) 

Ken Thompson, 1969

>                 produced a derivative called B, from which a few
> researchers at Murray Hill derived C.

Mostly one.  Dennis Ritchie, circa 1972.  Brian Kernighan contributed, 
and Ken stuck his oar in occasionally.

>                                        Thus the question:  should
> the next language in the series be named D (next alphabetically)
> or P (next letter of BCPL)?