Python design philosophy

[Brett g Porter]

"Grant Edwards" <ge at nowhere.none> wrote in message
news:u9375.2324$iN5.533105 at ptah.visi.com...
> In article <8jidt1$2k5s$1 at noao.edu>, Richard Wolff wrote:
> >thomas at xs4all.nl (Thomas Wouters) writes:
> >
> >>On 30 Jun 2000 19:47:38 +1200, Paul Foley <see at below> wrote:
> >>>On Fri, 30 Jun 2000 02:03:56 GMT, Grant Edwards wrote:
> >
> >>>> C predates the PDP-11 so we'll chalk it up to convergent
> >>>> evolution.
> >
> >>>Oh no it doesn't.
> >
> >>Oh yes it does ;) The first bits of C, including, for instance, the
> >>auto-increment operators, were designed and used on the PDP-7, not the
> >>PDP-11.
> >
> >>> C was written for the Unix port to PDP-11.
> >
> >>More like 'during' than 'for'. UNIX and C both, together, evolved on for
> >>quite a number of years (witness the new C & UNIX 'standards')
> >
> >"C was originally written for the PDP-11 under UNIX ... "
> >  The C Programming Language, by D. M. Ritchie, S. C. Johnson, M. E.
Lesk,
> >  and B. W. Kernighan, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol 57, #6, 1978,
Pg 1991
>
You can read Dennis Ritchie's own history of the development of C at
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/chist.html
He describes C's origins on the PDP-7, and from my reading of the paper, how
the language went from its embryonic PDP-7 state into something more like
classic K&R C while working on the PDP-11. I really think that it's a floor
wax /and/ a dessert topping..