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

[Larry McVoy via TUHS]

On Mon, May 25, 2026 at 07:52:01PM -0700, Adam Thornton wrote:
> On Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:52???PM 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.
> >
> >
> But in this day and age, *can* you?  

Well, you feel it in C a heck of a lot more than in Python.  And I think
you will always feel it in C.  C is a very thin layer over the machine,
it's been described as a portable assembly language and I think that is
accurate.

In higher level languages, a single statement can do a lot, go play with
C++ and then come back to C, you will feel the machine.