19 Mar
2018
19 Mar
'18
7:40 p.m.
Jon Forrest <nobozo(a)gmail.com> writes:
It took a while before the VAX C compiler was good
enough, and
even then, it wasn't cheap. I was in the VMS development group
at Sybase in the early 1990s and we often hit issues in VAX C,
and in the VAX Debug support for it.
VAX C was still pretty awful in the late 90s, while their FORTRAN was
really excellent, not least because of the high quality optimizer.
Back to Unix ...
Agreed. :)
...but first: being Norwegian, I have to plug another really good
FORTRAN compiler; the one in SINTRAN, the operating system for the
Norwegian built mini computers from Norsk Data. They took FORTRAN-77,
and added even more bling to it, resulting in a compiler that could
accept the following program:
C This FORTRAN progam may be compiled and run on a Norsk Data
C computer running SINTRAN and the FTN compiler. It uses only
C FORTRAN reserved words, and contains just one numerical
C constant, in a character string (a format specifier). When
C you run it, it prints a well known mathematical construct...
C
C Even FORTRAN is a block structured programming language:
PROGRAM
;PROGRAM;INTEGERIF,INTEGER,GOTO,IMPLICIT;REALREAL,DIMENSION,EXTERNA
AL,FORMAT,END;INTEGERLOGICAL;REALCOMPLEX,DATA,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER
R;DOFORIF=INTEGER,INTEGER;ENDDO;INTEGER=IF+IF;GOTO=INTEGER*INTEGER*
*INTEGER*INTEGER-INTEGER-IF;CALLFUNCTION(IMPLICIT,REAL,DIMENSION,EX
XTERNAL,FORMAT,END,LOGICAL,COMPLEX,DATA,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER);CALL
LSUBROUTINE(IMPLICIT,LOGICAL,GOTO,IF,INTEGER);END;SUBROUTINEFUNCTIO
ON(IMPLICIT,REAL,DIMENSION,EXTERNAL,FORMAT,END,LOGICAL,COMPLEX,DATA
A,CALL,ASSIGN,CHARACTER);RETURN;END;SUBROUTINESUBROUTINE(IMPLICIT,L
LOGICAL,GOTO,IF,INTEGER);INTEGERGOTO,IMPLICIT(GOTO),LOGICAL(GOTO),I
IF,INTEGER,EXTERNAL,RETURN;DOFOREXTERNAL=IF,GOTO;DOFORRETURN=INTEGE
ER,EXTERNAL-IF;IMPLICIT(RETURN)=LOGICAL(RETURN)+LOGICAL(RETURN-IF);
;ENDDO;IMPLICIT(IF)=IF;IMPLICIT(EXTERNAL)=IF;DOFORRETURN=IF,GOTO-EX
XTERNAL;WRITE(IF,'(''$
'')');ENDDO;DOFORRETURN=IF,EXTERNAL;WRITE(I
IF,'(''$''I4)')IMPLICIT(RETURN);ENDDO;WRITE(IF,'(
/)');DOFORRETURN=
=IF,GOTO;LOGICAL(RETURN)=IMPLICIT(RETURN);ENDDO;ENDDO;END
Anyone care to guess what the output looks like?
-tih
--
Most people who graduate with CS degrees don't understand the significance
of Lisp. Lisp is the most important idea in computer science. --Alan Kay