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I know that C is the standard programming language for operating system development, but out of curiosity I was wondering what preceded it. What was the main programming language used for operating system development before C?
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1958: Algol was created as an algorithmic language. It was also a precursor to programming languages such as Java and C.
Most of the operating systems are written in the C/C++ languages. These not only include Windows or Linux (the Linux kernel is almost entirely written in C), but also Google Chrome OS, RIM Blackberry OS 4.
Unix was originally written in assembly language, but was soon rewritten in C, a high-level programming language. Although this followed the lead of CTSS, Multics and Burroughs MCP, it was Unix that popularized the idea.
Notably, the C programming language is quite a bit older. It came out in 1972, while Python first appeared in 1991. Since its arrival, programmers have positively embraced C for its speed and portability. Python gained more popularity at the beginning of the 21st century when it was a decade old.
There were a lot of systems before C was used for Unix (1969...). Here's a sparse timeline. Click on each system for details. Most early systems would be implemented in assembler. A notable exception (not listed in the timeline) was the ahead-of-its-time 1961 B5000 with an O/S written in ALGOL.
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Burroughs was one of the first to use something other than assembler for OS development. They chose a dialect of Algol.
In 1965 Multics(Project MAC, funded by ARPA) design began and PL/I was chosen to develop the OS. In 1969 Multics was opened for use at MIT, but there were frustrations and Bell Labs withdrew from Project MAC. Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Doug McIlroy, and J. F. Ossanna continued to seek the holy grail and Unics (later Unix) development began.
Multics History
Multics Failure?
Unix v. Multics
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During the 1970's "Cold War" there was an effort to use the data security and parallel processing features of ALGOL 68 to create Secure/Capability based operating systems:
Cambridge CAP computer - All procedures constituting the operating system were written in ALGOL 68C, although a number of other closely associated protected procedures - such as a paginator - are written in BCPL. c.f. microsoft
Flex machine - The hardware was custom and microprogrammable, with an operating system, (modular) compiler, editor, garbage collector and filing system all written in Algol 68RS. A Linux port of this Algol68RS can be downloaded from compile can be downloaded from Sourceforge:algol68toc.
/* Interestingly portions of DRA's algebraically specified abstract machine Ten15 is still available, also from Sourceforge:TenDRA (for minux). Ten15 serves as DRA's intermediate language for compilers, and evolved to support C and Ada. Apparently an attempt was made to port FreeBSD/Unix using the TenDRA C compiler */
ICL VME - S3 programming language was the implementation language of the operating system VME. S3 was based on ALGOL 68 but with data types and operators aligned to those offered by the ICL 2900 Series. This OS is still in use as a Linux VM, and has some 100,000 users.
The Soviet Era computers Эльбрус-1 (Elbrus-1) and Эльбрус-2 were created using high-level language uЭль-76 (AL-76), rather than the traditional assembly. uЭль-76 resembles Algol-68, The main difference is the dynamic binding types in uЭль-76 supported at the hardware level. uЭль-76 is used for application, job control, system programming c.f. e2k-spec.
Maybe the US military was doing something similar somewhere. Anyone?
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There were many 16-bit Forth systems where the interpreter and (fairly primitive) OS layer were written in Forth.
The original Mac OS was written in a mix of 68k ASM and a slightly extended Pascal.
ADA has been used to write several OS's.
But I'd guess that the dominant language used for OS development prior to C was IBM 360 assembly language.
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