30 Sep
2014
30 Sep
'14
12:30 a.m.
doug wrote
Sorry for straying from direct Unix history, but this remark spurred a lot
of memories.
Memories, indeed! I remember Dennis remarking that when he added the
keyword "register" to B, the compiler actually got smaller. However, my
memories of that transition are more painful. The keywords actually took
up slots in the symbol table, and, unbeknownst to me, Yacc had completely
filled the symbol table before that change. When he installed the new
compiler, Yacc broke. I still remember spending a couple of days figuring
out to rewrite a very complicated piece of code so it would use one fewer
variable name!