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  Quick Question dougmmika@gmail.com - 2015-08-25 19:22 -0700
    Re: Quick Question "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-08-25 19:24 -0700
    Re: Quick Question James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-25 23:00 -0400
      Re: Quick Question Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-08-26 07:19 +0100
        Re: Quick Question glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-08-26 07:55 +0000
          Re: Quick Question "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-08-26 06:04 -0500
            Re: Quick Question Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-08-26 12:58 +0100
              Re: Quick Question "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-08-26 05:20 -0700
            Re: Quick Question Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-08-26 13:17 +0100
              Re: Quick Question "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-08-26 08:15 -0500
            Re: Quick Question Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-08-26 08:36 -0700
        Re: Quick Question David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-08-26 13:09 +0200
          Re: Quick Question Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-08-26 13:01 +0100
            Re: Quick Question David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-08-26 14:30 +0200
            Re: Quick Question Lowell Gilbert <lgusenet@be-well.ilk.org> - 2015-08-26 09:14 -0400
              Re: Quick Question Ken Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2015-08-26 13:40 -0400
            Re: Quick Question James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-26 10:23 -0400
            Re: Quick Question Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-08-26 08:39 -0700
              Re: Quick Question Ken Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2015-08-26 13:43 -0400
              Re: Quick Question Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-08-27 09:26 -0700
            Re: Quick Question Ken Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2015-08-26 13:39 -0400
              Re: Quick Question Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-08-26 18:46 +0100
              Re: Quick Question James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-26 14:08 -0400
              Re: Quick Question Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2015-08-26 22:41 -0700
                Re: Quick Question Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2015-08-27 08:40 -0600
                  Re: Quick Question Paul N <gw7rib@aol.com> - 2015-08-27 13:49 -0700
                  Re: Quick Question Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-08-27 14:28 -0700
          Re: Quick Question James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-26 10:24 -0400

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#68437

On 8/26/2015 8:01 AM, Richard Heathfield wrote:
> On 26/08/2015 12:09, David Brown wrote:
[...]
>> So blame Microsoft here - it was they who invented their own
>> not-quite-java language and confusingly called it C#.  Don't blame the
>> guy who politely asked a not entirely unreasonable question.
>
> Oh, I wasn't blaming him. My response was not to him, but to James. And yes,
> of course it's Microsoft's fault. But it's partly Dennis Ritchie's fault.
> "C" is the worst thing about C. If he'd called it "dritchie" or "dmrlang" or
> "flodge", that would have been far better. Those are all terrible names for
> programming languages, but they're all better than "C".

I don't know how long you've been using computers, but typing "flodge" on an 
old TTY took a lot more effort than "C".

Just as "creat" takes less effort than "create".  ;-)

Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  (Of course, searching for 
"BCPL" gives me the Baltimore County Public Library site as the top hit.)

-- 
Kenneth Brody

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#68440

On 26/08/2015 18:39, Ken Brody wrote:
> On 8/26/2015 8:01 AM, Richard Heathfield wrote:
>> On 26/08/2015 12:09, David Brown wrote:
> [...]
>>> So blame Microsoft here - it was they who invented their own
>>> not-quite-java language and confusingly called it C#.  Don't blame the
>>> guy who politely asked a not entirely unreasonable question.
>>
>> Oh, I wasn't blaming him. My response was not to him, but to James.
>> And yes,
>> of course it's Microsoft's fault. But it's partly Dennis Ritchie's fault.
>> "C" is the worst thing about C. If he'd called it "dritchie" or
>> "dmrlang" or
>> "flodge", that would have been far better. Those are all terrible
>> names for
>> programming languages, but they're all better than "C".
>
> I don't know how long you've been using computers, but typing "flodge"
> on an old TTY took a lot more effort than "C".

But usually you can't type it by itself; it needs to be qualified.

> Just as "creat" takes less effort than "create".  ;-)

Not for me. My fingers find it easier to type well-formed properly 
spelled-out words. Anyway how often do you need to type the name of a 
language? And what proportion is it of the text that is being typed?

> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  (Of course, searching
> for "BCPL" gives me the Baltimore County Public Library site as the top
> hit.)

I got the language as the top hit (the library was third).

And BCPL has not really been topical for half a century so that's pretty 
good going.

-- 
Bartc

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#68443

On 08/26/2015 01:39 PM, Ken Brody wrote:
...
> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  (Of course, searching for 
> "BCPL" gives me the Baltimore County Public Library site as the top hit.)
> 
You searched the wrong way: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCPL>. It has
a link to the page for "B".

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#68472

On Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 6:39:17 PM UTC+1, Ken Brody wrote:
>
> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  
>
I believe A was assembler. B was a higher-level, more portable language 
and the C language was the development of the B language.

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#68490

Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:

> On Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 6:39:17 PM UTC+1, Ken Brody wrote:
>>
>> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  
>>
> I believe A was assembler. B was a higher-level, more portable language 
> and the C language was the development of the B language.

While I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was once an assembler
called "A", it wasn't a member of the C family.  The first member of the
family was BCPL (I haven't seen any claims that it was based on any
specific earlier language); B was developed from BCPL and C from B.

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#68516

On Thursday, 27 August 2015 15:40:47 UTC+1, Joe Pfeiffer  wrote:
> Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:
> 
> > On Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 6:39:17 PM UTC+1, Ken Brody wrote:
> >>
> >> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  
> >>
> > I believe A was assembler. B was a higher-level, more portable language 
> > and the C language was the development of the B language.
> 
> While I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was once an assembler
> called "A", it wasn't a member of the C family.  The first member of the
> family was BCPL (I haven't seen any claims that it was based on any
> specific earlier language); B was developed from BCPL and C from B.

According to "BCPL: the language and its compiler" BCPL means "Basic CPL" and is based on CPL - Combined Programming Language.

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#68520

Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> writes:
> Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:
>> On Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 6:39:17 PM UTC+1, Ken Brody wrote:
>>>
>>> Now...  Who chose the name "B" for that language?  
>>>
>> I believe A was assembler. B was a higher-level, more portable language 
>> and the C language was the development of the B language.

Nope.

> While I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was once an assembler
> called "A", it wasn't a member of the C family.  The first member of the
> family was BCPL (I haven't seen any claims that it was based on any
> specific earlier language); B was developed from BCPL and C from B.

BCPL was based on CPL.  I *think* CPL was partly inspired by Algol.

The successor to B was briefly called "NB" (for "New B") before the name
"C" was settled on.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

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#68420

On 08/26/2015 07:09 AM, David Brown wrote:
...
> For people relatively new to programming, it can be confusing that there
> are so many "C related" languages like C#, C++, and Objective-C.  Then
> there are many managers and "human resources" folk who believe in the
> language "C/C++" - and perhaps other combinations including C#.  And for
> many search engines, it's only the letters that are relevant - they
> can't distinguish between C, C# and C++.
> 
> So blame Microsoft here - it was they who invented their own
> not-quite-java language and confusingly called it C#.  Don't blame the
> guy who politely asked a not entirely unreasonable question.

I don't blame him for being uncertain - but he was inclined to believe
this group was for C#, and NOT C - and it's that inclination which I
found odd.
-- 
James Kuyper

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