Languages used on PDP-11 - was Re: Fwd: is there any word processing software for the pdp11?

[Toby Thain]

On 02/12/14 8:20 AM, Mark Wickens wrote:
> Is there any general agreement on what the 'best' programming language is
> for PDP-11 for this kind of application, if I'm getting what you're after
> it's something like wordstar or WPS-PLUS? A text editor with some word
> processing features. Good system integration and the ability to easily
> control a terminal?
>
> I know VAX Pascal is highly respected and can do most things - certainly
> Theo De Klerk's book is very comprehensive.
>
> I don't know *anything* about programming PDP-11's. Would be interested if
> there is one language or it's a case of pick and choose like VAXen.
>

Many languages are available, depending on operating system. On Unix, C, 
Fortran and Pascal of course. MACRO-11 was always popular. PDP-11 was 
also used to develop experimental language environments like POP-2 
(available on modern machines as poplog).

TeX is written in "literate Pascal"; it was developed, iirc, on PDP-10 
machinery at SAIL? Pretty sure you could only compile and run it on a 
fairly large PDP-11, if at all. (Note that it's not an editor, like most 
of the other programs mentioned; it's a compiler.)

--Toby


> Mark.
>
> On 2 December 2014 at 03:36, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
>
>> On 01/12/14 12:29 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
>>
>>> On 11/30/2014 07:45 PM, Toby Thain wrote:
>>> Umm, I'm "pretty sure" I had TeX running on RSX-11M.  It was
>>> glacially slow, as in taking minutes per page, but it did get the
>>> job done.
>>>
>>
>> That's interesting. I wonder how it was ported - presumably via the Pascal
>> compiler.
>>
>> I did web2C-based ports to Classic MacOS (inside MPW) and Inmos
>> Transputer; I'd have thought pdp-11 was quite a bit too small for TeX.
>>
>> If you recall any more details, I'd be interested - I might attempt a new
>> PDP-11 port.
>>
>> --Toby
>>
>>
>>
>>> It ran a lot better, of course, on a VAX.
>>
>>>
>>> Word processing doesn't get any better than TeX, I still use
>>> it under Linux.
>>>
>>> Jon
>>>
>>>
>>
>