ne**********@gmail.com wrote:
Could you tell me what is a K&R compiler?(I know them, but what is the
compiler?)
A compiler which implements the pre-ANSI C language as described in the
original K&R 1978 book. The most noticeable difference is the lack of
function prototypes. By 1987, the ANSI C standard was well into draft
format, and the function prototypes had been borrowed from C++. Turbo C
1.0 and 1.5 seem to both implement the standard as much as possible.
I have found several compilers which predate ANSI C for the IBM PC. One
is the original MIX C (not Power C, which they still sell, it
implements the ANSI standard). I contacted MIX, who are still in
business, and they no longer have copies (!) of their original C
compiler. If anyone has it, I'd be very interested in trying it, too.
There is something called C88 which is a K&R C compiler which was NOT
released in 88, but much earlier - don't know where the 88 comes from.
There is a Digital Research C (and PL/I! wild!) compiler for DOS which
is also K&R. Many "small c" dialects and interpreters are also K&R. I
don't know about Microsoft, since I've never found any of their early C
compilers. The only one I have ever had was C/C++ 7 which was very late
(mid-90s). There are many other C compilers, of course. I've just found
a few.
I'm also looking for Zortech C++ 1.0 from 1988. It was the first native
DOS C++ compiler and is historically extremely important, but the
earliest version on the net is 3.1 from the mid 90s. An epoch-marking
release like this needs to be someplace accessible before it is totally
forgotten.
Scott
PS: I never used an IBM PC until I got out of college - I had a high
school programming class in 1987 that used BASICA on IBM PCs for
programming - it was a Pascal class, but they got rid of the Apple II e
computers with Apple Instant Pascal during the Christmas break, and had
new IBM PCs with no software! So I missed a lot of the era I am
researching. I learned C on DEC Ultrix and SPARC machines in college.
