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I think it was C+@ (pronounced CAT, as I recall).

Edit: pasting a comment of mine from here in 2019 [1]:

The language is C+@ [2]. I dug up an article about it in Dr. Dobbs Journal, the October 1993 issue. This does not seem to be the article I am remembering, since it does not go into the instruction interleaving technique anywhere near as much as I remember, but they do mention it and say it was called "beading":

The binaries produced by the C+@ compiler are independent of the underlying machine architecture. Without recompiling, applications can be moved from SPARC to 68000 to Intel x86, and so on. C+@ is not interpretive--the binaries are encoded using a sophisticated 'beading' technique developed at Bell Labs. Because of the streamlined language design, the C+@ compiler produces these portable binaries with extraordinary speed, without the need for preprocessing or front ends.

This is from the article's introduction:

The C+@ programming language, an object-oriented language derived from AT&T Bell Lab's Calico programming language, was developed to provide programmers with a true object-based language and development environment. C+@ (pronounced "cat") has the syntax of C and the power of Smalltalk. Unlike C++, C+@ includes a mature class library with more than 350 classes used throughout the system. The C+@ compiler itself is written in C+@, and all of the source for the class libraries is included with development systems. The Calico project was started at AT&T Bell Labs in the early '80s, after the introduction of Smalltalk and at the same time as C++. Calico was originally used for rapid prototyping of telecommunication services; hence, its heavy emphasis on keeping the language syntax simple and showcasing the power of the graphical development environment.*

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20583430

[2] https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/C%2b%40



Additional information that I hunted down, given the actual article information.

Folks can get a sense of C+@ from https://jacobfilipp.com/DrDobbs/articles/DDJ/1993/9310/9310b....

The links to the figures still work, as of today.


Ah, the e2 article says it was patented, so no wonder it never gained traction. Surely that patent is long expired, though?


Yeah, thanks.


I asked the AI. It’s first reference was this comment. They were really doing a lot in the 80s at Bell Labs.




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