8 Jun
2017
8 Jun
'17
5:04 p.m.
Just to diverge from this thread a little, it probably isn't all that
remarkable that programming languages tend to reflect the hardware for
which they were designed.
Thus, for example, we have the C construct:
do { ... } while (--i);
which translated right into the PDP-11's "SOB" instruction (and
reminiscent of FORTRAN's insistence that DO loops are run at least once
(there was a CACM article about that once; anyone have a pointer to it?)).
And of course the afore-mentioned FORTRAN, which really reflects the
underlying IBM 70x architecture (shudder).
I know that Burroughs' iron ran ALGOL; I shudder to think of any box that
runs native PERL...
Speaking of Burroughs (which we weren't), their OS was MCP (Master Control
Program) which we the great unwashed called Male Chauvinist Pig, no doubt
to their distress :-) Any other examples of poor acronyms designed by
ignorant marketoids?
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."