Re: The joy of FORTRAN-like languages

On 30/09/2024 06:46, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2024-09-29, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
 

On Sun, 29 Sep 2024 04:26:08 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>

That's assuming your machine has a stack, which the IBM 360 didn't.

>
Presumably there was a software-defined stack in the ABI. Otherwise how
would a language like PL/I handle recursion?

 The subroutine calling convention required the calling program
to pass a pointer to a register save area.  A recursive routine
would have to allocate a save area in each instance (and, of
course, free it before exiting).  If they wanted local variables,
they'd have to allocate and free them as well.
 

Exactly . At the end of the day., someone looked at how code was developing and said 'y'know, all this would be a piece of piss if we invented a STACK'
No need to explicitly allocate and free memory.
I think it was ALGOL that first used a stack for all that - not sure.
--
    "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."
  George Santayana