[TUHS] Hypothetical: Could MULTICS have been written in C, if available?

[Brian Stuart via TUHS]

On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 1:52 AM Larry McVoy via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> I have a son who is more about theory, he's a math guy.  I nudged him
> towards programming, he of course went to python.  I nudged him towards
> C and he came back with the best statement ever that I have gotten from
> him: In C, you can feel the machine.  Yes, Travis, yes you can.  That's
> part of what makes C great.

As it should be.  It's just as why I always prefer to drive a sports car to
a luxury car, why when I did photography, I used my eyes and hands in the
darkroom, and why when I play a musical instrument, I play the instrument
instead of an abstraction that prevents me from making mistakes.  If I can't
feel the connection to the car, its designer, and the road, driving stops being
fun.  If I can't feel the connection to the instrument, I'm fighting against it,
rather than it pulling the music out of me.  If I can't feel the connection
between the language and the transistors, programming stops being fun
and becomes a chore, and life is too short to write code that's not fun.

As retirement approaches, the chance to withdraw into my own hardware
and my own languages is irresistable.

BLS

P.S. Kids, get off my lawn!  And you'll only get my PDP-11 when you pry
it from my cold, dead hands!