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Found at: gopher.quux.org:70/Archives/usenet-a-news/FA.works/82.03.09_ucbvax.6445_fa.works.txt

Aucbvax.6445
fa.works
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works
Tue Mar  9 16:47:33 1982
Re: [Lars.Ericson at Cmu-10a:  Apollo/Clever?]
>From MAGUIRE@Utah-20 Mon Mar  8 16:05:43 1982
	To the best of my knowledge (having seen the sources for the previous
iteration of system software (i.e. not the latest release but the fall release))
the sources were written in:
	PASCAL - most of the OS
	RATFOR - many of the tools are from the SOFTWARE TOOLS collection
		 (this may be where you got the idea that they were written in
		  FORTRAN)
	ASSEMBLY - a trivial fraction of the code, in fact I was trying to
		   produce assembly code for their assembler (as output of
		   the SYSLISP compiler effort here) and did not have a manual
		   for this assembler and found it difficult because there were
	           so few examples to follow.
		    The majority of the assembly code is concerned with
		   device drivers and forcing things to hardware page 
		   boundaries and then it calls the actual program which is 
		   usually a PASCAL routine.
        So far, despite some rough edges, the system has been quite
reasonable to use, and has a working multiprocess OS that supports real
windows (unlike the fake  windows on the PERQ - which do look nice, but
presently can't have a processing running in each of them). It is
unfortunate that your narrow linguistic understanding has blinded you to
the realities of existing systems. It should be noted that the PRIME
Computer systems early OS, which was largely take from and patterned after
MULTICS was implemented in FORTRAN, and supported a virtual memory system
with imbedded OS, and many of the other nice features of MULTICS with a
very large address space for the time (early 70's). I think that given the
efforts of groups at Brown Univ., Yale,  Utah, Caltech, etc. You will see
working systems which support C and LISP; as components in CAD/CAM, CAI,
personal algebra machines, etc. Until such time as LISP systems are readily
available for purchase for the 68000, as current PASCAL, FORTRAN, and C
compilers are, it seems to be a perfectly reasonable "clever, conservative
system" design which sells what is available rather than trying to sell
what is not available as several other companies are presently doing!
Chip
ps To other Works readers: Sorry for the flame but I am very disappointed
by many of the companies which are selling software and hardware which does
not exist yet.
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