1969
Unix language before C created
Around 1969, Ken Thompson created the B language at Bell Labs — a minimal stepping stone between BCPL and C for early UnixAn influential multitasking OS from the 1970s — files, pipes, and C shaped Linux, macOS, and BSD. development.
What it was for
B was a small language for writing UnixAn influential multitasking OS from the 1970s — files, pipes, and C shaped Linux, macOS, and BSD. kernelThe core of an operating system that manages hardware, memory, and processes — everything else depends on it. code and utilities on memory-limited minicomputers. Thompson built its compiler after finding FORTRAN too bulky for the hardware. Dennis Ritchie then added data types and turned B into C — the language that still underpins operating systems worldwide.
Companies
- Bell Labs
Why it's here
UnixAn influential multitasking OS from the 1970s — files, pipes, and C shaped Linux, macOS, and BSD. needed a lightweight language for systems work; B was the experiment that proved the approach before C added proper types.
Why it mattered
B established the BCPL → B → C lineage that defines how operating systems and device drivers are still written.
What it solved
The PDP-7 had very little memory, and existing languages were too large to compile or run on the new UnixAn influential multitasking OS from the 1970s — files, pipes, and C shaped Linux, macOS, and BSD. hardware.
Media
ImageKen ThompsonUnknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons