[TUHS] PWB contributions

Clem cole clemc at ccc.com
Mon Nov 9 13:36:51 AEST 2015


Interesting. If I run Into Eric any time soon I'll have to ask him.  As I recall I don't remember Dan's version but I do remember Eric's. Nor do I remember Geoff hacking on it. Plus if you look at the CSRG db from Kirk, the DB shows Eric as the creator. What's more Dan's name is not in the man page - Eric's is.  



I wonder if this is a case where Dan wrote something specific for the ADM's and the 11s and Eric did something similar more general around the sametime.  FWIW: Eric had always claimed to me that he wrote it and it is my memory that I got the sources from him for our systems in the CAD group in Cory hall (and have never had a reason to doubt him in that claim). 

I do remember more(1) was was one of the first programs that used Hortons termcap library that he had pulled out of joy's vi and greatly enhanced.  Mike Arnold then took it and created curses (for Rogue actually).

Btw Because of using termcap it forced a lot of us to put the termcap strings in the environment to speed up program start. 

Dans memory of the undergrad PDP 11 had being over loaded does line up with my memory.  A couple of us were teaching CS-40 (the intro undergrad course) around that time and undergrads used the Cory 70s.  I avoided them as much as possible. 



Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 8, 2015, at 9:58 PM, Win Treese <treese at acm.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Of course, as soon as I sent that, I found Dan Halbert’s version of things
> at http://www.danhalbert.org/more.html
> 
> For what that’s worth.
> 
> - Win
> 
>> On Nov 8, 2015, at 9:54 PM, Win Treese <treese at acm.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Clem, 
>> 
>> In trying to check on some memories of mine, I came across your answer on
>> Quora about "What is the difference between less and cat command?”, in which
>> you mention that Wikipedia had it wrong about Dan Halbert writing more(1).
>> 
>> What Dan did tell me many years ago is that he wrote a program called “less”
>> when he was at Berkeley as a near-parody on more(1). Its notable feature was
>> that it went backwards through the file, displaying in the opposite direction.
>> 
>> This, of course, had nothing to do with what we now know as less(1), and that code
>> is probably lost to history.
>> 
>> - Win
>> 
>>> On Nov 8, 2015, at 9:12 PM, Clement T. Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Doug
>>> 
>>> Eric Shienbrood originally wrote more(1) at UCB when he came as a grad student.    It was based on functionality from ITS that he as used to having at MIT.   Summit wrote a similar program with the same called page(1) and I'm fairly sure it was few years after Eric's program. Btw page(1) which did not have the same functionality (no termcap or in there case terminfo yet).  Less(1) would show up a few years later and replace them both.  
>>> 
>>> Clem
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
>>> On Nov 8, 2015, at 8:39 PM, Doug McIlroy <doug at cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>>>>> I thought PWB (makers of "make") came from Harvard?
>>>> 
>>>>> PWB ...  came straight out of Bell. Not sure about all the
>>>>> applications (well, SCCS came from Bell).
>>>> 
>>>> PWB did not create make; Stu Feldman did it in research.
>>>> PWB did make SCCS. I believe it also originated cico,
>>>> find and eval. Probably more, too, but I can't reliably
>>>> separate PWB's other contributions from USG's.
>>>> 
>>>> Doug
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