[TUHS] Any UNIX With No C In Userland?

[Warner Losh]

On Sat, Mar 1, 2025, 7:07 PM G. Branden Robinson <
g.branden.robinson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Did Sun's proprietary C compiler also handle C++ at that time?
>

Yes. They had a cfront interim release that we tested, but their SUNWpro
compiler later replaced it with something better, but I don't recall the
exact
details. I do recall SUNWpro was pickier than the older pcc + cfront one
that we used before.

If it did, it _still_ might have made sense, because while I was only
> barely conscious of the C++ marketplace at the time, with the language's
> standardization nigh (for definitions of "nigh" stretching out many more
> years than anyone planned), Sun's compiler guys might have feared giving
> up mindshare and influence on the future ISO C++ to Borland or
> Microsoft.
>

SUNWpro compilers pre-date any standardization efforts...  The ARM
was in this time, and C++ was struggling to finalize enough things to
make it worthwhile to get it to ISO/ANSI.


> The foregoing speculative concern is consistent with the speed of Sun's
> pivot to Oak/Java around the time Microsoft showed that (1) Windows NT
> was going to block further penetration of Unix into the server OS sector
> and substantially erode Unix's place in workstation and high-end PC
> configurations _and_ (2) it was going to destroy Borland C++ with Visual
> C++ by hook or by crook (the sort of stuff that got Bill Gates haled
> into a CSPAN-televised Congressional hearing a few years later, but with
> respect to Web browsers).
>

JAVA post-dates this pivot by a few years...

That said, I'm sure it would surprise no one if the "real reason" turned
> out to be a stupid one.
>

Warner
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