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From: Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: do { quit; } else { }
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:44:39 -0700
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Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> writes:
> On Wed, 9 Apr 2025 12:58:08 +0200
> Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 09.04.2025 11:42, David Brown wrote:
>> > On 08/04/2025 18:28, bart wrote:  
>> >> [...]  
>> > 
>> > I believe the meaning of "extern" in combination with other
>> > storage-class specifiers was picked to work with existing old code
>> > from before "extern" was added to the language.  
>> 
>> Assuming you mean the "C" language I don't quite understand the last
>> part of the sentence. Wasn't 'extern' already in "K&R" - so what was
>> "the language" before the addition of 'extern'?
>> 
>> Or did you just mean to say "[...] before _combinations_ of 'extern'
>> and other storage-class specifier were added to the language."
>> 
>> Janis, puzzled
>
> K&R was published in 1978, 5 years after C got its first users.
> Back in 1973-74 C language was significantly different from what it
> became few years later.

The earliest C reference I have is cman74.pdf, currently at
<http://cm.bell-labs.co/who/dmr/cman74.pdf>.  It includes "extern" in
the list of keywords.

It was inherited from B, which had "extrn" as a keyword as of 1972.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */