Shell history

[Ed Gould]

Robert_Toxen%anvil.UUCP at harvard.harvard.edu:
>>Sorry, no! Bourne shell came before csh and Bill Joy incorporated Bourne's
>>ideas into csh, not the other way 'round.

Chris Torek:
>Here (with permission) is a quote from Joe Kalash at UC Berkeley:
>
>	The original versions of C shell were written on V6 computers
>	here (at Berkeley). While it was written before V7 was
>	brought up here (i.e. before Bill really had access to
>	Bourne's sh), it was in fact written AFTER V7 was available.
>
>So csh was written independently, at any rate.  There may have
>been cross-fertilization afterward, but the original csh design
>(if you can call it a design :-/) was not based on the V7 shell.

Well, we seem to be sneaking up on the truth, here.  Joe is right that
the genesis of csh predates V7, but it doesn't predate Bourne's sh.
Both csh and sh took ideas from Mashey's PWB shell.  Also, Bill talked
to folks at the Labs quite a bit in those days - there was definitely
a flow of ideas from Bourne to Joy, even if it wasn't direct.

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146

"A man of quality is not threatened by a woman of equality."