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- Path: netnews.worldnet.att.net!newsadm
- From: 73773.733@compuserve.com (An Uncarved Block)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: Stupid Question - Why is C named 'C'?
- Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 02:17:05 GMT
- Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services
- Message-ID: <4l6sn9$ak1@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>
- References: <1996Apr16.122212@ubmail>
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-
- telliott@ubmail (TODD ELLIOTT) wrote:
-
- >I know it sounds like a stupid question, but why is C named 'C' in the first
- >place? I can understand BASIC, Pascal, Fortran, or COBOL, but 'C'?
-
- To quote:
-
- "C is a general-purpose programming language that was originally
- designed by Dennis Ritchie of Bell Laboratories and implemented there
- on a PDP-11 in 1972. It was first used as the systems language for
- the UNIX operationg system. Ken Thompson, the developer of UNIX, had
- been using both assembler and a language named B to produce initial
- versions of UNIX in 1970. C was invented to overcome the limitations
- of B." - A Book on C by Al Kelley and Ira Pohl
-
- I guess you could say that it was A (for assembler) then B first. C
- was the next logical extension.
-
- So that brings up the question: Why C++ and not D?
-
- Cheers,
-
- Bill.
-
-