Hi, Does anyone know where I could get a good B compiler? I have searched for a B compiler for some time now, but have been having some difficulty finding anything complete for a Windows or Linux system.
Here is an example of B:
main( ) {
auto a, b, c, sum;
a = 1; b = 2; c = 3;
sum = a+b+c;
putnumb(sum);
}
Do you have a Honeywell 6050 running GCOS to run it on? Or maybe an emulator? I know that IBM's 360 and 370 have been emulated but I haven't yet heard of a Honeywell 6000 emulator.
At the University of Waterloo in 1974-76 timeframe I remember writing CS assignments in B rather than Algol-60 which most people in the class were using. I went on to write an emulator for an HP 2100A minicomputer, but that code is long since lost.
As far as I know, B was only implemented on the Honeywell with its 36-bit word length, 9-bit ASCII, etc. And since it's successor C, was hitting the universities at the same time, it didn't last long.
If I remember correctly, Trevor Thompson, one of the founders of MKS, wrote a standard I/O library for B and also wrote a 3D chess game in it. If you can manage to track him down, he is someone who, at one time, had his hands on a B compiler. I just had a look at LinkedIn and I found him. He is one of the owners of Satori Solutions.
If you have a machine running GCOS, or a Honeywell series 60 emulator running GCOS, then you could use the B compiler included in the UW Tools Package from Thinkage. It supports both batch and TSS programs.