PL-6 is a discontinued
system programming language
A system programming language is a programming language used for system programming; such languages are designed for writing system software, which usually requires different development approaches when compared with application software. Eds ...
based on
PL/I
PL/I (Programming Language One, pronounced and sometimes written PL/1) is a procedural, imperative computer programming language initially developed by IBM. It is designed for scientific, engineering, business and system programming. It has b ...
. PL-6 was developed by
Honeywell, Inc. in the late 1970s as part of the project to develop the
CP-6 operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
, a follow-on to Xerox
CP-V to run on
Honeywell Series 60 and DPS-8 systems.
Description
Data types
PL-6 has no provision for
floating point
In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic on subsets of real numbers formed by a ''significand'' (a signed sequence of a fixed number of digits in some base) multiplied by an integer power of that base.
Numbers of this form ...
data.
Aggregates
Arrays
An array is a systematic arrangement of similar objects, usually in rows and columns.
Things called an array include:
{{TOC right
Music
* In twelve-tone and serial composition, the presentation of simultaneous twelve-tone sets such that the ...
are one dimensional and zero-based, with the zero specified explicitly. For example,
DCL x (0:4) SBIN; declares an array of five signed 36-bit integers. The elements are numbered x(0), x(1),...,x(4).
Structures
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
are also supported. For example:
DCL 1 struct,
2 a,
3 b CHAR(3),
3 * CHAR(1),
2 c CHAR(4);
declares a structure named ''struct'' consisting to two elements: a minor structure ''a'' consisting of a three-character field ''b'' and an unnamed one-character element ("*" indicates the element is unnamed), and a four-character element ''c''.
The top level of the structure must be ''1'', and the remaining levels 2–10, if used, have to be specified in order with no levels skipped.
References
External links
*
Systems programming languages
Procedural programming languages
Programming languages created in the 1970s
Honeywell mainframe computers
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