Comment on Bell Labs 'Unix' Tape from 1974 Successfully Dumped to a Tarball

truthfultemporarily@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• mech@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They wrote this without autocompletion or syntax highlighting.

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  • Nanook@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They had PAPER NOTEBOOKS cheats

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    • bstix@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They also used the classic they knew what they were doing shortcut.

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• bigfondue@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s actually really easy when you get to make everything up as you go along.

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  • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The modern world was born in NJ

    * looks at modern world *

    Yeah, that tracks.

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    • bigfondue@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yea I thought about having ‘for better for worse’ but I lived in NJ so I’ll let them have a little glory for once

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• xthexder@l.sw0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Hello World in 1974: echo.c

  main(argc, argv)
  int argc;
  char *argv[];
  {
  	int i;
  
  	argc--;
  	for(i=1; i<=argc; i++)
  		printf("%s%c", argv[i], i==argc? '\n': ' ');
  }
  

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  • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Bloat, they wasted an extra integer operation with argc–.

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    • xthexder@l.sw0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I think it’s actually quite elegant. No matter what it has to skip over argument 0 which will be the executable name echo.
      If the subtraction was removed and the loop changed to <, it would then need to do an addition or subtraction inside the loop to check if it’s the last argument.

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      • palordrolap@fedia.io ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The real question might be whether the compiler was smart enough to change var++ and var-- into ++var and --var when the initial values aren't needed.

        As compiler optimisations go, it's a fairly obvious one, but it was 1974 and putting checks like that in the compiler would increase its size and slow it down when both space and time were at a premium.

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      • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Or they just drop the =

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• bigfondue@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If you had a question about C, you would just consult K&R, but not the book

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  • ylph@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    [deleted]

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    • bigfondue@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Have you read the Unix: A History and a Memoir? I only started it, but the first chapter or two is just Kernighan talking about Bell Labs.

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• BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They were chatting with ELIZA and vibe coded the whole thing

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