[pups] Bringing up the fist C compiler

[Ian King]

About a thousand years ago, I recall hand-building programs for 8-bit microprocessors (in what we'd call embedded systems today).  In many cases, I was the "assembler", writing directly in machine code which was then either keyed in through front-panel switches or burned into a PROM....  -- Ian 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Johnny Billquist [mailto:bqt at update.uu.se] 
	Sent: Thu 9/5/2002 5:05 AM 
	To: Tim Bradshaw 
	Cc: pups at minnie.tuhs.org 
	Subject: Re: [pups] Bringing up the fist C compiler
	
	

	On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Tim Bradshaw wrote:
	
	> * Johnny Billquist wrote:
	>
	> > How? It was written, of course. In assembler. By that time, you already
	> > had the assembler, an editor, and other commonly used system programs, so
	> > it's just a case of the normal development cycle.
	>
	> Is this known or is it deduction?
	
	[...]
	
	Ah. Ok, now I understand what you're asking for.
	You want to know what the first C was written in, and what that
	compiler/assembler was written in/on, and so on...
	
	No, I'm just deducting. Since the reference posted said that TMG was the
	first higher level language implemented, it follows that it must have been
	written in a low level language, namely assembler.
	
	Admittedly, the PDP-7 TMG *could* have been written in some high level
	language on some other machine using some tool that made a PDP-7
	executable, so your guess is as good as mine.
	
	But even though I cannot account for all steps, I can guarantee that at
	the end of the chain, you *will* find assembler.
	
	I guess my MACRO-11 implementation of C isn't good enough. :-)
	(Well, it ain't mine, it's the normal DECUS C, but I'm hacked some at it.)
	
	        Johnny
	
	Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
	                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
	email: bqt at update.uu.se           ||  Reading murder books
	pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
	
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