top | item 10207470

(no title)

arocks | 10 years ago

Wasn't Burroughs B5000 the first computer to have all system software written in a high level language in the 1960s?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_large_systems#B5000

discuss

order

DougMerritt|10 years ago

Yes. But the Burroughs architecture was literally designed to support the high level language (it was heavily CISC), so that solution did not extend to any other computer systems, whereas C of course was relatively portable.

(To head off complaints about what "portable means": portable enough that people did port Unix and C programs to many architectures, unlike the case with the Burroughs OS and programs.)

So the Unix claims of firsts need qualifiers to be absolutely true, but are true in spirit even when phrased casually: the earlier exceptions are mostly just curiosities.