The PL/I Family

Robin Vowels

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Aug 4, 2022, 7:37:08 PM8/4/22

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http://teampli.net/plifamily.html

Wolfman Jack

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Aug 5, 2022, 6:59:16 AM8/5/22

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The link to PLUM is dead.

On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 1:37:08 AM UTC+2, Robin Vowels wrote:
> http://teampli.net/plifamily.html

John W Kennedy

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Aug 9, 2022, 5:53:04 PM8/9/22

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On 8/4/22 7:37 PM, Robin Vowels wrote:
> http://teampli.net/plifamily.html

BRUIN /was/ distributed with CMS, but it’s far more similar to BASIC
than to PL/I.
https://usermanual.wiki/m/8f03e3390fa44cee401a987c285272e33c4c8c38355ea6e470fdbbf5d093ce9b.pdf
The idea that BRUIN is a PL/I-like language seems to be a
misinterpretation of the early statement that it was hoped that the
combination of BRUIN and PL/I would cover most university needs apart
from actual computer science.

FAPL (Format and Protocol Language) was a language based on PL/I that
was originally used for more precisely documenting SNA (IBM’s Systems
Network Architecure). However, when the DPPX operating system (for small
8100-series computers, later ported to small 370s) came out, a compiler
was built for FAPL to create the DPPX SNA stack.

Late in the 1960s, OS/360 and DOS/360 and their descendants changed from
Assembler to PL/I as a gross syntactic model for option strings and
command languages. Compare the PARM= strings of the F-Compiler to the
Optimizing Compiler, IEHPROGM to IDCAMS, or JCL to TSO commands, all
with a systematic change from optionname=value to optionname(value).

--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!

Peter Flass

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Aug 10, 2022, 10:35:29 AM8/10/22

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John W Kennedy <john.w....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/4/22 7:37 PM, Robin Vowels wrote:
>> http://teampli.net/plifamily.html
>
> BRUIN /was/ distributed with CMS, but it’s far more similar to BASIC
> than to PL/I.
> https://usermanual.wiki/m/8f03e3390fa44cee401a987c285272e33c4c8c38355ea6e470fdbbf5d093ce9b.pdf
>
> The idea that BRUIN is a PL/I-like language seems to be a
> misinterpretation of the early statement that it was hoped that the
> combination of BRUIN and PL/I would cover most university needs apart
> from actual computer science.
>
> FAPL (Format and Protocol Language) was a language based on PL/I that
> was originally used for more precisely documenting SNA (IBM’s Systems
> Network Architecure). However, when the DPPX operating system (for small
> 8100-series computers, later ported to small 370s) came out, a compiler
> was built for FAPL to create the DPPX SNA stack.
>
> Late in the 1960s, OS/360 and DOS/360 and their descendants changed from
> Assembler to PL/I as a gross syntactic model for option strings and
> command languages. Compare the PARM= strings of the F-Compiler to the
> Optimizing Compiler, IEHPROGM to IDCAMS, or JCL to TSO commands, all
> with a systematic change from optionname=value to optionname(value).
>

Interesting, thanks John. I guess I need to update the page.

--
Pete

Robin Vowels

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Aug 24, 2022, 2:21:55 AM8/24/22

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On Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 12:35:29 AM UTC+10, bearlyabus...@gmail.com wrote:

> Interesting, thanks John. I guess I need to update the page.

The Q1/Lite micro had a subset of PL/I.

John Cowan

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Sep 5, 2022, 4:22:33 PM9/5/22

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On Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 5:53:04 PM UTC-4, John W. Kennedy wrote:

> The idea that BRUIN is a PL/I-like language seems to be a
> misinterpretation of the early statement that it was hoped that the
> combination of BRUIN and PL/I would cover most university needs apart
> from actual computer science.

Or perhaps from a misreading of the statement in the BRUIN manual that
BRUIN was derived from PIL (Pittsburgh Interactive Language). It actually
looks

--
IF IF = THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = IF;

John W Kennedy

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Sep 6, 2022, 2:51:43 PM9/6/22

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(posting unfinished?)

That seems credible. I can’t find anything definite on PIL, but it was
apparently based on JOSS, and a quick look at JOSS shows that BRUIN is a
near relation.

>
> --
> IF IF = THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = IF;

John Cowan

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Sep 6, 2022, 3:18:18 PM9/6/22

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On Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 2:51:43 PM UTC-4, John W. Kennedy wrote:

> > Or perhaps from a misreading of the statement in the BRUIN manual that
> > BRUIN was derived from PIL (Pittsburgh Interactive Language). It actually
> > looks
> (posting unfinished?)

Yes, somehow I trashed my last few words, "like JOSS/FOCAL/MUMPS". I hate having to use a trackpad.

Peter Flass

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Sep 6, 2022, 3:33:56 PM9/6/22

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John W Kennedy <john.w....@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 9/5/22 4:22 PM, John Cowan wrote:
>> On Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 5:53:04 PM UTC-4, John W. Kennedy wrote:
>>
>>> The idea that BRUIN is a PL/I-like language seems to be a
>>> misinterpretation of the early statement that it was hoped that the
>>> combination of BRUIN and PL/I would cover most university needs apart
>>> from actual computer science.
>>
>> Or perhaps from a misreading of the statement in the BRUIN manual that
>> BRUIN was derived from PIL (Pittsburgh Interactive Language). It actually
>> looks
>
> (posting unfinished?)
>
> That seems credible. I can’t find anything definite on PIL, but it was
> apparently based on JOSS, and a quick look at JOSS shows that BRUIN is a
> near relation.
>

I guess I’ll just delete BRUIN from the list. I couldn’t find much
information on BRUIN, but I thought it sounded like it was an interactive
subset of PL/I, like CPL (IBM’s or DEC’s). A lot of the old stuff is just
gone now, leaving nothing but a trace in the literature.

>>
>> --
>> IF IF = THEN THEN THEN = ELSE ELSE ELSE = IF;
>

--

Pete

Robin Vowels

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Sep 7, 2022, 12:34:59 AM9/7/22

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On Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 5:33:56 AM UTC+10, bearlyabus...@gmail.com wrote:
.
> I guess I’ll just delete BRUIN from the list. I couldn’t find much
> information on BRUIN, but I thought it sounded like it was an interactive
> subset of PL/I, like CPL (IBM’s or DEC’s). A lot of the old stuff is just
> gone now, leaving nothing but a trace in the literature.

.
Perhaps you could you add Optimising PL/I for CDC Cyber and Cyber 76?

Peter Flass

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Sep 7, 2022, 9:50:18 AM9/7/22

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That page is supposed to be languages based on or resembling PL/I, not
actual PL/I compilers. Is there any documentation on CDC PL/I? There was
also a UNIVAC 1100 PL/I (I know because I had a job porting some code to
Linux), but unfortunately the only documentation I have is a reference
card.

--
Pete

Robin Vowels

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Oct 3, 2022, 3:17:09 AM10/3/22

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On Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 11:50:18 PM UTC+10, bearlyabus...@gmail.com wrote:
> Robin Vowels <robin....@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 5:33:56 AM UTC+10, bearlyabus...@gmail.com wrote:
> > .
> >> I guess I’ll just delete BRUIN from the list. I couldn’t find much
> >> information on BRUIN, but I thought it sounded like it was an interactive
> >> subset of PL/I, like CPL (IBM’s or DEC’s). A lot of the old stuff is just
> >> gone now, leaving nothing but a trace in the literature.
> > .
> > Perhaps you could you add Optimising PL/I for CDC Cyber and Cyber 76?
> >
> That page is supposed to be languages based on or resembling PL/I, not
> actual PL/I compilers. Is there any documentation on CDC PL/I?

.
I'll see what I can find.

Robin Vowels

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Oct 3, 2022, 3:20:29 AM10/3/22

to

.
I've scanned the PL/I manual for this machine.
If anyone fancies a copy, please drop me a line.

Robin Vowels

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Oct 4, 2022, 10:09:59 AM10/4/22

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On Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at 4:21:55 PM UTC+10, Robin Vowels wrote:

> On Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 12:35:29 AM UTC+10, bearlyabus...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> The Q1/Lite micro had a subset of PL/I.

.
This site has manuals and good photos:
.
http://www.peel.dk/Q1/