6/12/72                                                   BC (VI)





NAME            bc -- B interpreter



SYNOPSIS        bc [ -c ] sfile .b ... ofile  ...
                               1            1


DESCRIPTION     bc is the UNIX B interpreter.  It accepts three

                types of arguments:



                Arguments whose names end with ".b" are assumed

                to be B source programs; they are compiled, and

                the object program is left on the file sfile .o
                                                            1
                (i.e.  the file whose name is that of the source

                with ".o" substituted for ".b").



                Other arguments (except for "-c") are assumed to

                be either loader flag arguments, or B-compatible

                object programs, typically produced by an earlier

                bc run, or perhaps libraries of B-compatible rou-

                tines.  These programs, together with the results

                of any compilations specified, are loaded (in the

                order given) to produce an executable program

                with name a.out.



                The "-c" argument suppresses the loading phase,

                as does any syntax error in any of the routines

                being compiled.



                The language itself is described in [1].



                The future of B is uncertain.  The language has

                been totally eclipsed by the newer, more power-

                ful, more compact, and faster language C.



FILES           file.b                  input file

                a.out                   loaded output

                b.tmp1                  temporary (deleted)

                b.tmp2                  temporary (deleted)

                /usr/lang/bdir/b[ca]    translator

                /usr/lang/bdir/brt[12]  runtime initialization

                /usr/lib/libb.a         builtin functions, etc.

                /usr/lang/bdir/bilib.a  interpreter library



SEE ALSO        [1] K. Thompson; MM-72-1271-1; Users' Reference

                to B.

                cc(I)



DIAGNOSTICS     see [1].



BUGS            Certain external initializations are illegal.

                (In particular: strings and addresses of exter-

                nals.)



OWNER           ken, dmr