History of BCPL

	Revision 14 . . (edit) September 17, 2001 7:50 pm by Drj [minor editing]
	Revision 11 . . August 18, 2001 10:27 am by AxelBoldt [link]

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Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff)

Changed: 1c1

A computer programming language. BCPL stands for Basic CPL; CPL stands for Combined Programming Language. CPL was a joint development of Cambridge and London universities.

BCPL is a computer programming language; its name is short for Basic CPL; CPL stands for Combined Programming Language. CPL was a joint development of Cambridge and London universities.

Changed: 3c3

BCPL was designed by [Martin Richards]? whilst he was at the University of Cambridge in 1966. The first implementation was done at MIT in the spring of 1967. The language was described in a paper presented to the 1969 Spring Joint Computer Conference.

BCPL was designed by [Martin Richards]? whilst he was at the University of Cambridge in 1966. The first implementation was written while he was visiting MIT in the spring of 1967. The language was described in a paper presented to the 1969 Spring Joint Computer Conference.

Changed: 5c5

The language is lean, powerful, and portable. It proved possible to write small and simple compilers for it and was therefore a popular choice for bootstrapping a system. Reputedly some compilers could be run in 16k. Several operating systems were written partially or wholly in BCPL. It is unusual in having only one [data type]?: a word (a fixed number of bits, usually chosen to align with the architecture's machine word). The interpretation of any value was determined by the operators used to process the values (so, + added two values together treating them as integers; ! indirected through a value effectively treating it as a pointer). There was no type checking provided by the implementation.

The language is lean, powerful, and portable. It proved possible to write small and simple compilers for it and was therefore a popular choice for bootstrapping a system. Reputedly some compilers could be run in 16 kilobytes. Several operating systems were written partially or wholly in BCPL (for example, Tripos?). The language is unusual in having only one [data type]?: a word (a fixed number of bits, usually chosen to align with the architecture's machine word). The interpretation of any value was determined by the operators used to process the values (so, + added two values together treating them as integers; ! indirected through a value effectively treating it as a pointer). There was no [type checking]? provided by the implementation.

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In 1979 implementations existed on at least 25 architectures. In 2001 it sees little use. C is the language of choice for systems programming.

In 1979 implementations existed on at least 25 architectures. In 2001 it sees little use. C is the language of choice for [systems programming]?.

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"BCPL, the language and its compiler", Martin Richards and Colin Whitby-Strevens. 1980. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1-521-28681-6 (amazon.com, search)

"BCPL, the language and its compiler", Martin Richards and Colin Whitby-Strevens. 1980. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28681-6 (amazon.com, search)