[fpc-pascal] Re: Porting linux to pascal, would it be possible ?

[Mehmet Erol Sanliturk]

Dear All ,

In relation to programming language to be used to program
an operating sytem , the Burroughs Corporation is a very good
example .

( I am NOT saying that porting Linux to Free Pascal
is a good idea . There is MINIX3 , porting Free Pascal to MINIX3
could be a very good job .
For 'why' , please see ( http://www.minix3.org/ )
" ... Single-chip, small-RAM, low-power, $100 laptops  for
Third-World children ..."
)


I worked on the Burroughs systems
( B3500 since 1974 ... later , B4700 , B6700 ) .


They designed the COBOL compiler , then the B2000 (?)
but I am sure that B3500 was in that form :

Burroughs mid-sized computers were at least 10 times faster
than equivalent other main-frames on data processing jobs
because COBOL statements were translated directly to machine code ,
i.e. , its machine codes were NOT like their contemporary main-frames .

(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_B2000
" ... The architecture was built to support COBOL programming
in the most efficient way possible ..."
)

Later , they designed their Algol-like language ESPOL ,
and then B5??? series . In the B6700 main-frame the machine language
was the ESPOL , i.e. , the computer was executing ESPOL
directly . During development of this series , design team did
not say to upper management that "... are designing a computer that
it will NOT have machine language ( assembler ) but a 'new machine' ."
because acceptance of a design not having a machine language was very 
unlikely .

(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_large_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCP_(Burroughs_Large_Systems)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPOL
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/B6500_6700/5000094_B6700_ESPOL_Jun72.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALGOL_60
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWP
)


Thank you very much ,

Mehmet Erol Sanliturk