Computing (FOLDOC) dictionary
Basic Language for Implementation of System Software
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language (BLISS, or allegedly, "System Software
Implementation Language, Backwards") A language designed by
W.A. Wulf at
CMU around 1969.
symbols stand for addresses, not values.
Another characteristic (and possible explanation for the
backward acronym) was that BLISS fairly uniformly used
backward
keywords for closing blocks, a famous example being
ELUDOM to close a MODULE. An exception was BEGIN...END though
you could use (...) instead.
DEC introduced the NOVALUE keyword in their dialects to allow
statements to not return a value.
["BLISS: A Language for Systems Programming", CACM
14(12):780-790, Dec 1971].
[Did the B stand for "Better"?]
(1997-03-01)