In a message dated 01-14-99, Ivan Todoroski said to Will Honea about "PL/I,
APL and Everything!"

Hi Ivan,

IT>  Heh :) I've already seen COBOL... and it isn't all that bad! 

You want to try writing it some time.

IT>  So, what are you saying, that these are actually (relatively) NEW
IT>  languages?! Now I'm TOTALLY confused... didn't someone mention that
IT>  they were used on mainframes or something like that?

Compared to COBOL and FORTRAN, APL is reasonably new. Iverson's paper was
published around 1962, some 6 years after COBOL was started and almost 8
years after the original FORTRAN.

PL/I is much newer still, with the first workable version coming out of
General Electric around 1966. They used that compiler to write the MULTICS
operating system. IBM's first workable compiler came out of Hursley Park
labs. in 1967.

[snip]
IT> I have this notion (more of a feeling actually) that C is most suited
IT> for fast performance on todays hardware, but I can't be sure. Feel free
IT> to prove me wrong.

One word: assembler.

It might be a little slow to write, but if you can write it well, it doesn't
half run like stink.

Regards

Dave

___
 * MR/2 2.25 #353 * An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.

--- Maximus/2 3.01