[COFF] [TUHS] Book Recommendation

[Dan Cross]

[-TUHS, +COFF]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 3:00 AM Henry Bent <henry.r.bent at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Nov 2021 at 21:31, Mary Ann Horton <mah at mhorton.net> wrote:
>
>> PL/I was my favorite mainframe programming language my last two years as
>> an undergrad. I liked how it incorporated ideas from FORTRAN, ALGOL, and
>> COBOL. My student job was to enhance a PL/I package for a History
>> professor.
>>
>
> What language were the PL/I compilers written in?
>

The only PL/I compiler I have access to is, somewhat ironically, the
Multics PL/1 compiler. It is largely self-hosting; more details can be
found here: https://multicians.org/pl1.html (Note Doug's name appears
prominently.)

Wikipedia claims that IBM is still developing a PL/I compiler, which I
> suppose I have no reason to disbelieve, but I'm very curious as to who is
> using it and for what purpose.
>

I imagine most of it is legacy code in a mainframe environment, similarly
to COBOL. I can't imagine that many folks are considering new development
in PL/1 other than in retro/hobbyist environments and some mainframe shops
where there's a heavy existing PL/I investment.

        - Dan C.
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