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Re: Wirth-ian languages

From "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.misc
Subject Re: Wirth-ian languages
Date 2014-05-01 10:44 +0100
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <ljt517$7dn$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (6 earlier) <op.xe11uyjf6zenlw@localhost> <ljnk2j$nao$1@dont-email.me> <op.xe2s1zad6zenlw@localhost> <ljoa12$6oc$1@dont-email.me> <op.xe5qdsaj6zenlw@localhost>

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"Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> wrote in message 
news:op.xe5qdsaj6zenlw@localhost...
> On Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:38:41 -0400, James Harris 
> <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:
>> "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> wrote in message
>> news:op.xe2s1zad6zenlw@localhost...
>>> On Tue, 29 Apr 2014 03:24:02 -0400, James Harris
>>> <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> wrote in message
>
>>>>> It can be argued that many of these features, and others, exist in C
>>>>> because the original authors (Kernighan, Ritchie, Thompson) ported
>>>>> C to so many different computing platforms and had to redesign the
>>>>> language to fit, as many as possible, as cleanly as possible.
>>>>
>>>> I was surprised to see Kernighan's name in there. What was his
>>>> involvement?
>>>
>>> K&R C ...  What do you think the 'K' and 'R' in K&R are for?
>>>
>>> Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie.
>>
>> Yes, that's a book! Because the book became so popular some people assume
>> Kernighan had a hand in writing C but I was sure you would have known 
>> that
>> he did not.
>
> Interesting point.  Actually, I never gave it much thought to it.  The 
> books
> on C which I recollect did nothing more than mention their names in 
> passing.
> So, I guess that was an assumption on my part since both were named for 
> the
> book and unofficial language standard.  I've never read K&R C.  It seemed
> less informative that other books.  Was that mentioned in there?

I don't remember seeing it in K&R2. I thought I had seen a video of 
Kernighan saying that he was not involved but I cannot find it. However, I 
did find this:

  http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7035

The relevant part is short enough to repeat here

LJ: What was your part in the birth and destiny of the C language?

BK: I had no part in the birth of C, period. It's entirely Dennis Ritchie's 
work. I wrote a tutorial on how to use C for people at Bell Labs, and I 
twisted Dennis's arm into writing a book with me. But, if he had been so 
motivated, he certainly could have done it without help. He's a superb 
writer, as one can tell from the C reference manuals, which are his prose, 
untouched. I've profited a great deal from being part of the book, and I 
treasure Dennis as a friend, but I didn't have anything to do with C.

I don't know about you but this seems to me to be an especially modest 
comment. Pure speculation but I could imagine Ritchie speaking more highly 
of Kernighan's input, if only in terms of useful feedback on the design.

>> I would be interested to hear that he had a hand in porting C
>> but have never heard of that before. He certainly was not an
>> author of C.
>
> I currently only have the handful of C papers Ritchie placed on the
> internet to search through for references, and a few others.  My C
> library (books) has been packed away for many years, except the two
> books I've told you about previously.

Re. porting C I remember hearing a story that Ritchie and Thompson once got 
muddled up over who was going to write a certiain small subroutine and they 
both wrote it. When they realised what had happened they compared the code 
and found the two versions identical! It was because of hearing that that I 
could imagine them both being involved in porting C but that is an 
assumption on my part.

James

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Thread

Wirth-ian languages bruce axtens <bugmagnet@outlook.com> - 2014-04-28 16:23 +0000
  Re: Wirth-ian languages Joe Hynes <theda@southpark.net> - 2014-04-28 17:31 +0000
    Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 18:47 +0000
      Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-28 20:35 +0100
        Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 20:18 +0000
          Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-28 22:50 +0100
            Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 00:03 +0100
              Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 23:51 +0000
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 07:59 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 10:04 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 11:33 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-29 07:41 -0400
            Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 21:46 -0400
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 08:24 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-29 07:33 -0400
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 14:38 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-30 21:28 -0400
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-05-01 10:44 +0100
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-04-29 09:59 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-29 15:51 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-04-30 10:57 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-30 15:47 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-01 10:18 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-05-01 16:56 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-02 10:10 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-30 18:27 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-01 10:18 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-05-01 17:10 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-02 09:22 +0200
  Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 20:59 -0400
    Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 21:10 -0400
    Re: Wirth-ian languages Nils M Holm <news2009@t3x.org> - 2014-04-29 07:52 +0000
    Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 09:45 +0100
  Re: Wirth-ian languages Jacko <jackokring@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 05:37 -0700

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