1960 to 1969: The Rise of Business Computers and Business Software - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 118

aimed at companies and universities who might not be able to afford IBM main-
frames.
The PDP-1 used modified IBM Model B typewriters (with type bars rather than
balls) for printed output devices. Larger and more robust typewriters called Friden
Flexowriters were also used. Because these printers used regular typewriter paper
and had letter-quality printing, several early word-processing programs were de-
veloped for the PDP-1. One of these had the provocative name of Expensive Type-
writer .
The earlier TX-0 computer at MIT had attracted programmers to write experi-
mental games in their spare time. When the PDP-1 replaced the TX-0, gamers at
MIT developed one of the first interactive games called Spacewar. This happened
circa 1961.
Later, in 1969, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie were interested in porting
a game called Space Travel to a PDP-7. In the process of doing this port, Ritchie
and Thompson ended up developing the UNIX operating system. It is a topic of
historical interest that a game program was the main reason for the port, and it was
perhaps the first UNIX application after the port.
The C programming language was developed in a UNIX context and would
eventually become one of the most widely used languages in history. C programs
had access to computing hardware and so were useful for operating systems and
other applications that controlled physical devices. Although C would not become
available until the next decade, the design of C started circa 1969.
Programming Languages of the 1960s
The decade from 1960 to 1969 was fruitful for programming languages and led to
the development of many new languages, including, but not limited to, the follow-
ing:
• ALGOL 60
• ALGOL 68
• APL
• BASIC
• BCPL
• COBOL 61
• COMIT