Compilers not coming with the OS anymore

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Fri Jun 18 18:25:01 1999

> VMS (V5.X and before, for sure) came with an assembler. Compilers were
> always extra. At least the engineers stuck it to the marketing types when
> the marketing types wanted to charge extra for *run-time* libraries for
> the various languages. The engineers wrote a system utility (CUSPS, as they
> were called by DEC - I forget exactly what it stands for) in each of the

Commonly Used System Program. Xerox used the same term, AFAIK. They might
have gotten it from DEC (they also wrote a timesharing system independent
of, but based on, TOPS-10). I thought there was another origin for the term
(a university?) but the Jargon File says no.

_Anyway_... do you know anything about BLISS? DEC people seem to have
complained about it, as if it was unpopular within DEC.

-- Derek
Received on Fri Jun 18 1999 - 18:25:01 BST