[TUHS] early Unix papers, from Jim Joyce
segaloco via TUHS
tuhs at tuhs.org
Tue Nov 8 09:12:40 AEST 2022
The following papers stick out to me as papers that haven't surfaced in any of the research I've done (not exhaustive, but what stuck out to me):
The Programmer's Workbench - A Machine for Software Development
- Is this distinct from the Mashey papers?
Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language
- This sounds fun, not hard UNIX info, but fun
A Typesetter-Independent TROFF
- A ditroff-specific paper? Can't say I've seen such a thing, would be interested in this one. I know someone (can't recall name/email) in the GROFF mailing list seemed particularly excited about ditroff information that could be gleaned from the UNIX/TS 4.0 docs, this may be their golden carrot.
PIC - A Graphics Language for Typesetting
- The list mentions a March 1982 revision. This would post-date the UNIX/TS 4.0 version, although there is the Research V10 version of the paper. However, an initial flip through the V10 Volume 2 manual reveals no specific last-modify date. That would ultimately trace back to https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V8/usr/doc/pic . I can't find the roff sources for V9 or V10 of this paper though, I've just got the physical book for V10.
The PIC Graphics Language
- Another PIC paper?
FSCK - The Unix File System Check Program
- This paper shows up in UNIX/TS document sets but not research. I'd be curious of the specific date on this one, the latest one we have afaik is 1981, UNIX/TS 4.0.
Combining Data Bases: National and Cartographic Files
- Not explicitly UNIX perhaps? Either way, I like maps, I'd be curious what is going on here
The UNIX System: Making Computers Easier To Use
- Perhaps a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw ?
C Reference Manual
- Curious on the date, there are many revisions scanned
UNIX Documentation Guide
- BSD "Documentation Roadmap" perhaps? I have a 4BSD paper compilation from some university in Australia, seems to just be a subset of C and Fortran related papers though, I wonder if there's correlation between this and the intro paper in that set...
The Unix Programming Environment
- Kernighan and Mashey? Does this bear any relation to the book authored with Rob Pike? I feel like I've seen this title in passing but am definitely curious.
A Walk Through AWK
- Somewhere between the original AWK paper and the AWK book?
PARTS - A System for Assigning Word Classes to English Text
- Probably the paper underlying descriptions of parts in later WWB literature.
Writing Tools - The STYLE and DICTION Programs
- Ditto, I'd be curious how much of what became trade-book WWB/DWB documentation started as Bell memoranda and if a full manual could be compiled from just memoranda.
Route Finding in Street Maps by Computers and People
- More maps work by Bell, didn't know they did stuff in this area
I would absolutely be interested in throwing my hat in the ring on preservation, can pay for shipping to and fro and scanning would be gratis. That said, if someone expects a certain DPI, OCR, etc. then you can pay someone, I volunteer my resources at the capacity I can volunteer them.
If someone else can do the whole package, I'll also happily donate towards that.
- Matt G.
------- Original Message -------
On Monday, November 7th, 2022 at 2:16 PM, Grant Taylor via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> On 11/6/22 4:56 PM, Rich Morin wrote:
>
> > However, as a small step along the way, I opened up the box and
> > produced a rough list of the contents (see below). When I noticed
> > version or date information, I noted it, but many of the documents
> > are missing that sort of thing. So, YMMV.
>
>
> Thank you very much for the list. The provided details and your care to
> separate things is appreciated.
>
> > P.S. Careful Reader may notice a strong emphasis on text processing
> > in this collection. Jim's research interests included the use of
> > computers to analyze Middle English poetry. For example, the rhyme
> > schemes allowed him to clarify the pronunciation of certain words.
>
>
> I noticed that.
>
> I also noticed that I would very much like to spend some (upcoming) cold
> winter days with tea reading many of these papers.
>
> I'd be happy to help contribute to get these papers somewhere to be
> scanned & shared. Sadly I don't know how to go about doing the scanning
> myself.
>
> I'll contribute at least $10 toward getting these papers somewhere to be
> scanned.
>
> My efforts to scan front & back covers of my books doesn't scale to
> scanning, much less OCRing, books.
>
>
>
> --
> Grant. . . .
> unix || die
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