10 Jul
2019
10 Jul
'19
6:57 a.m.
On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 8:49 PM Larry McVoy <lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
Old programs didn't ask a lot of the OS so it
isn't surprising that it
worked.
I'd modify that to say, that old programs often ask less of *the system* -
although they tend to have assumptions about the environment (like the
target processor) embedded/implied in the code. I think the single
enhancement to C was adding strong typing and explicit typing in the
function calls. By adding those two things to old code, I have brought
them forward.
Similarly, I have taken modern code and my careful use of the preprocessor
be able to get it run on as far back as the 5th edition without real
hacks. And with what Warren and Phil did we even got pseudo C to compile
back on V0.
It's cool when it does though,
Indeed - very cool.