Bonus points if you also know:
- How the language (allegedly) got it's name?
- Which operating system still leverages the language today?
Bonus points if you also know:
I feel down a rabbit hole, a few years ago wonder the same thing about C#. Here is what I found.
::: spoiler Answer:
Indeed, the precursor to the C
programming language is B
!
Additionally:
Its name most probably represents a contraction of BCPL, though an alternate theory holds that it derives from Bon [Thompson 69], an unrelated language created by Thompson during the Multics days. Bon in turn was named either after his wife Bonnie or (according to an encyclopedia quotation in its manual), after a religion whose rituals involve the murmuring of magic formulas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_(programming_language)#cite_note-chist-2
B is almost extinct, having been superseded by the C language. However, it continues to see use on GCOS mainframes (as of 2014) and on certain embedded systems (as of 2000) for a variety of reasons: limited hardware in small systems, extensive libraries, tooling, licensing cost issues, and simply being good enough for the job.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_(programming_language)#cite_note-uwtools-13
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