<s>
B	B-Language
is	O
a	O
programming	O
language	O
developed	O
at	O
Bell	O
Labs	O
circa	O
1969	O
by	O
Ken	O
Thompson	O
and	O
Dennis	O
Ritchie	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
B	B-Language
was	O
derived	O
from	O
BCPL	B-Language
,	O
and	O
its	O
name	O
may	O
possibly	O
be	O
a	O
contraction	O
of	O
BCPL	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thompson	O
's	O
coworker	O
Dennis	O
Ritchie	O
speculated	O
that	O
the	O
name	O
might	O
be	O
based	O
on	O
Bon	O
,	O
an	O
earlier	O
,	O
but	O
unrelated	O
,	O
programming	O
language	O
that	O
Thompson	O
designed	O
for	O
use	O
on	O
Multics	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
B	B-Language
was	O
designed	O
for	O
recursive	O
,	O
non-numeric	O
,	O
machine-independent	O
applications	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
system	O
and	O
language	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
on	O
the	O
context	O
,	O
the	O
word	O
was	O
treated	O
either	O
as	O
an	O
integer	O
or	O
a	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
machines	O
with	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
processing	O
became	O
common	O
,	O
notably	O
the	O
DEC	B-Device
PDP-11	I-Device
that	O
arrived	O
at	O
Bell	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
character	O
data	O
stuffed	O
in	O
memory	O
words	O
became	O
important	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
typeless	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
was	O
seen	O
as	O
a	O
disadvantage	O
,	O
which	O
led	O
Thompson	O
and	O
Ritchie	O
to	O
develop	O
an	O
expanded	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
supporting	O
new	O
internal	O
and	O
user-defined	O
types	O
,	O
which	O
became	O
the	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Circa	O
1969	O
,	O
Ken	O
Thompson	O
and	O
later	O
Dennis	O
Ritchie	O
developed	O
B	B-Language
basing	O
it	O
mainly	O
on	O
the	O
BCPL	B-Language
language	I-Language
Thompson	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
Multics	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
B	B-Language
was	O
essentially	O
the	O
BCPL	B-Language
system	O
stripped	O
of	O
any	O
component	O
Thompson	O
felt	O
he	O
could	O
do	O
without	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
make	O
it	O
fit	O
within	O
the	O
memory	O
capacity	O
of	O
the	O
minicomputers	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BCPL	B-Language
to	O
B	B-Language
transition	O
also	O
included	O
changes	O
made	O
to	O
suit	O
Thompson	O
's	O
preferences	O
(	O
mostly	O
along	O
the	O
lines	O
of	O
reducing	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
non-whitespace	O
characters	O
in	O
a	O
typical	O
program	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Much	O
of	O
the	O
typical	O
ALGOL-like	B-Language
syntax	O
of	O
BCPL	B-Language
was	O
rather	O
heavily	O
changed	O
in	O
this	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
assignment	O
operator	O
:=	O
reverted	O
to	O
the	O
=	O
of	O
Rutishauser	O
's	O
Superplan	B-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
equality	O
operator	O
=	O
was	O
replaced	O
by	O
==	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thompson	O
added	O
"	O
two-address	O
assignment	O
operators	O
"	O
using	O
x	O
=	O
+	O
y	O
syntax	O
to	O
add	O
y	O
to	O
x	O
(	O
in	O
C	B-Language
the	O
operator	O
is	O
written	O
+	O
=	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
syntax	O
came	O
from	O
Douglas	O
McIlroy	O
's	O
implementation	O
of	O
TMG	B-Application
,	O
in	O
which	O
B	B-Language
's	O
compiler	O
was	O
first	O
implemented	O
(	O
and	O
it	O
came	O
to	O
TMG	B-Application
from	O
ALGOL	B-Language
68	I-Language
's	O
x	O
+	O
:=	O
y	O
syntax	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
innovation	O
was	O
not	O
in	O
the	O
earliest	O
versions	O
of	O
B	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
Dennis	O
Ritchie	O
,	O
people	O
often	O
assumed	O
that	O
they	O
were	O
created	O
for	O
the	O
auto-increment	O
and	O
auto-decrement	O
address	O
modes	O
of	O
the	O
DEC	B-Device
PDP-11	I-Device
,	O
but	O
this	O
is	O
historically	O
impossible	O
as	O
the	O
machine	O
did	O
n't	O
exist	O
when	O
B	B-Language
was	O
first	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
semicolon	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
for	B-Language
loop	I-Language
was	O
borrowed	O
by	O
Ken	O
Thompson	O
from	O
the	O
work	O
of	O
Stephen	O
Johnson	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
B	B-Language
is	O
typeless	O
,	O
or	O
more	O
precisely	O
has	O
one	O
data	O
type	O
:	O
the	O
computer	O
word	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
+	O
,	O
-	O
,	O
*	O
,	O
/	O
)	O
treated	O
this	O
as	O
an	O
integer	O
,	O
but	O
others	O
treated	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
to	O
be	O
dereferenced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
many	O
other	O
ways	O
it	O
looked	O
a	O
lot	O
like	O
an	O
early	O
version	O
of	O
C	B-Language
.	O
There	O
are	O
a	O
few	O
library	O
functions	O
,	O
including	O
some	O
that	O
vaguely	O
resemble	O
functions	O
from	O
the	O
standard	B-Language
I/O	I-Language
library	I-Language
in	O
C	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Thompson	O
's	O
words	O
:	O
"	O
B	B-Language
and	O
the	O
old	O
old	O
C	B-Language
were	O
very	O
very	O
similar	O
languages	O
except	O
for	O
all	O
the	O
types	O
[	O
in	O
C ]	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
implementations	O
were	O
for	O
the	O
DEC	O
PDP-7	B-Device
and	O
PDP-11	B-Device
minicomputers	O
using	O
early	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Honeywell	O
36-bit	O
mainframes	O
running	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
GCOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
earliest	O
PDP-7	B-Device
implementations	O
compiled	O
to	O
threaded	B-Application
code	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Ritchie	O
wrote	O
a	O
compiler	O
using	O
TMG	B-Application
which	O
produced	O
machine	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1970	O
a	O
PDP-11	B-Device
was	O
acquired	O
and	O
threaded	B-Application
code	I-Application
was	O
used	O
for	O
the	O
port	O
;	O
an	O
assembler	O
,	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
B	B-Language
language	I-Language
itself	O
were	O
written	O
in	O
B	B-Language
to	O
bootstrap	B-Application
the	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
early	O
version	O
of	O
yacc	B-Application
was	O
produced	O
with	O
this	O
PDP-11	B-Device
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
typeless	O
nature	O
of	O
B	B-Language
made	O
sense	O
on	O
the	O
Honeywell	O
,	O
PDP-7	B-Device
and	O
many	O
older	O
computers	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
a	O
problem	O
on	O
the	O
PDP-11	B-Device
because	O
it	O
was	O
difficult	O
to	O
elegantly	O
access	O
the	O
character	O
data	O
type	O
that	O
the	O
PDP-11	B-Device
and	O
most	O
modern	O
computers	O
fully	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
1971	O
and	O
1972	O
B	B-Language
evolved	O
into	O
"	O
New	O
B	B-Language
"	O
(	O
NB	B-Language
)	O
and	O
then	O
C	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
B	B-Language
is	O
almost	O
extinct	O
,	O
having	O
been	O
superseded	O
by	O
the	O
C	B-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
and	O
on	O
certain	O
embedded	B-Architecture
systems	I-Architecture
(	O
)	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
reasons	O
:	O
limited	O
hardware	O
in	O
small	O
systems	O
,	O
extensive	O
libraries	O
,	O
tooling	O
,	O
licensing	O
cost	O
issues	O
,	O
and	O
simply	O
being	O
good	O
enough	O
for	O
the	O
job	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
highly	O
influential	O
AberMUD	B-Protocol
was	O
originally	O
written	O
in	O
B	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
examples	O
are	O
from	O
the	O
Users	O
 '	O
Reference	O
to	O
B	B-Language
by	O
Ken	O
Thompson	O
:	O
</s>
