17

While reading the Byte sieve article (Gilbreath 1981), I came across a language I have never heard of, ZSPL.

I suspected this was actually a specific version of another language, perhaps PL/1. However, the listing shows it most closely resembling Algol/Pascal.

Has anyone heard of this language before? It does not appear on the wiki nor the taxonomies of languages that I can find.

I have seen references to similar names, but they are not related: there is a zSPL system for programming the C64's SID and another for NonStop systems.

| improve this question | |
  • 1
    It looks Algol-ish, but curiously it has no Boolean type, nor built-in true/false constants. It has a 'printf' which may indicate it's post-Algol 68 (the first language I know with a procedure called 'printf', as distinct from built-in features like Fortran formats). On the other hand, decimal conversion is "%d" like C, and CR-LF is "&M&J", not like C (and implying ASCII). – another-dave May 2 '19 at 11:53
  • Could you put a link in the question? It also sounds like some sample code is available; that would also be useful in the question. – DrSheldon May 2 '19 at 11:58
  • 1
    I recommend reading page 198. – JdeBP May 2 '19 at 11:58
  • Looks a lot like PLZ/SYS, which was a systems programming language from Zilog. Back in the day, I did a lot of work on Z8000 Unix systems, and I remember the PLZ manual coming with each one. It looked like a cool language but I never had a need to use it. – mannaggia May 2 '19 at 14:00
  • 1
    Looks like a home brew language that didn't take off - pg 198 has a reference to ZSPL - Peter D Ridley, 3321 Byron St, San Diego, CA 92106. Looks like the home address of the inventor of the language at that time. – cup May 2 '19 at 14:47
22

Page 198 of that Byte says ZSPL is by Pete Ridley, whose full name appears to be Peter D Ridley, resident at the time in San Diego, California. He and ZSPL are also briefly mentioned in the December 1981 Byte, but I can't find any other trace of them.

However, the sample ZSPL code looks rather like the SPL/3000 programming language, introduced in 1972 by Hewlett-Packard for the HP 3000 business minicomputer. It's lowercase, rather than uppercase, and has some extra keywords. I suspect, although I cannot prove, that ZSPL was an enhanced re-implementation by Ridley of SPL for the Z80 running CP/M, and the "Z" is just from Z80.

| improve this answer | |
  • 1
    Indeed, it looks like ZSPL is simply a Z-80 implementation, the syntax appears almost identical. Well spotted! – Maury Markowitz May 2 '19 at 16:19
  • 1
    The logic went "Z doesn't look like the start of an acronym for that period, try SPL as a programming language." There are several, but only SPL/3000 was the right period, and a look at the manual made the idea look very plausible. – John Dallman May 2 '19 at 17:17
  • 2
    And HP has a history of programming languages matching ?PL :) – hobbs May 2 '19 at 21:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.