[TUHS] Curly braces: An evolution of UNIX and C

[Clem Cole via TUHS]

Brian writing it for the early BCPL docs makes so much sense.  As
mentioned, it appears in the BCPL "line printer" style docs before B exists.

On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 5:44 PM Serissa <stewart at serissa.com> wrote:

> According to this post on Stack Overflow by Chuck Herbert, he corresponded
> with both Martin Richards and BWK and found that BWK wrote Hello World for
> the IO section of the BCPL doc.
>
> [image: apple-touch-icon at 2.png]
>
> Where does 'Hello world' come from?
> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/602237/where-does-hello-world-come-from>
> stackoverflow.com
> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/602237/where-does-hello-world-come-from>
>
> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/602237/where-does-hello-world-come-from>
>
>
> On May 20, 2026, at 5:26 PM, Clem Cole via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>
> below, I sent this comment to Thalia privately, but since Phill brought
> it
> up I'll bring it here too:
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 2:27 PM Thalia Archibald via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org>
> wrote:
>
>
> I should have added it, but I decided against it, since UNIX style was to
>
> use
>
> lowercase and I didn't want to change it to "Hello, world!". It would work
>
> with
>
> the ed session.
>
>
> In the B section, instead of
>
> The 1973 B language tutorial for the H6070 had the first-ever “hello,
>
> world” program
>
>
> I'd say that it was the first known/documented example of hello world.
>
>
> https://research.swtch.com/b-lang
>
> From 2008 says
>
> Brian Kernighan's 1973 B tutorial contains what is probably the very
>
> first “hello, world” program.
>
>
> which makes the same conclustion but hedges whether it was in fact THE
>
> FIRST.
>
>
> Good point.
>
>
> The "hello world" idea is from Martin Richards early BCPL
> documentation/papers, which preceded bwk's tutorial.   That said, Brian
> says he didn't read any of them, but they're also there in Richard's later
> BCPL book, which was made by taking documents that Martin or his
> collaborators had written earlier.  But as the great Tom Lehrer noted in
> his song: "Lobachevsky" —  *"My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed, When he
> finds out I publish first."*
>
>