first release of PyPy

[Mike Meyer]

Shane Hathaway <shane at hathawaymix.org> writes:
> Torsten Bronger wrote:
> Even if things don't turn out that way, note that each generation of
> programming languages builds on its predecessors, and PyPy could help
> bootstrap the next generation.  Assemblers first had to be written in
> machine code; when it was possible to write assemblers in assembly,
> people started writing complex grammars and came up with C.  C compilers
> first had to be written in assembly; when it was possible to write C
> compilers in C, people started inventing high level languages.  Now
> people are experimenting with high level compilers written in high level
> languages.  Where will this pattern lead?  Who knows. :-)

Your history of programming languages skips so many steps that it's
misleading.

For instance, C didn't arrive ab initio. It was preceeded by B, which
was a derivative of BCPL. From the history at <URL:
http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/chist.html >, it seems that B
slowly evolved into C. B started life as an interpreted language, with
a compiler that generated pseudo-code. The first B compiler was
written in TMG, which was a high-level language designed for creating
compilers - well, sorta. Based in that history, it seems likely that
the first program that compiled a language called C was written in B.

I'm used to seeing the term "high level languages" used for languages
a lot like C, to distinguish them from assembler. See <URL:
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/h/highll.htm > for one
definition. "Very high level languages" used to be popular, but I
haven't seen it used much. At least one person classifies Python as
such <URL: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=735359 >.  In
any case, powerful dynamic languages - of which python is an example -
date back to LISP. The first LISP compiler in LISP almost certainly
predates C.

Basically, there's a *lot* of history in programming languages. I'd
hate to see someone think that we went straight from assembler to C,
or that people didn't understand the value of dynamic languages very
early.

        <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.