Unix History Podcast Summaries

Original Hello World in "B" Programming Language - Computerphile

Computerphile

Apr 17, 2026

The B programming language, a precursor to C, was effectively lost to history until a hobbyist reverse-engineered its compiler. By studying surviving object code and documentation, the project demonstrates how a functional compiler can be built in under 1,000 lines of code, proving that extreme minimalism remains a viable path for portable, low-level software development.

Key insight: B only has a single data type—the machine word—which is why it lacks explicit types like 'int' or 'char' and relies entirely on memory addresses and indices.