BCPL // N. [abbreviation, `Basic Combined Programming Language') A Programming Language Developed By Martin Richards In Cambridge In 1967.

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BCPL // n.

[abbreviation, `Basic Combined Programming
Language') A programming language developed by Martin Richards in
Cambridge in 1967. It is remarkable for its rich syntax, small size
of compiler (it can be run in 16k) and extreme portability. It
reached break-even point at a very early stage, and was the
language in which the original hello world program was
written. It has been ported to so many different systems that its
creator confesses to having lost count. It has only one data type
(a machine word) which can be used as an integer, a character, a
floating point number, a pointer, or almost anything else,
depending on context. BCPL was a precursor of C, which inherited
some of its features.

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