> I'm always delighted by the light touch and stillness of early programming languages. Not much text; a lot gets done. Old programs read like quiet conversations between a well-spoken research worker and a well-studied mechanical colleague
Much of this was of course due to the lower performance of computing at the time - compilers just weren't highly sophisticated, and it made sense to code simply so as to leverage them as much as possible. That same attitude also extends to old-style "system design", which was often bespoke in a way that would not be very well regarded today. A hardware-portable compiled system like early Unix, designed for practicality and real use, was a huge novelty back then.
Much of this was of course due to the lower performance of computing at the time - compilers just weren't highly sophisticated, and it made sense to code simply so as to leverage them as much as possible. That same attitude also extends to old-style "system design", which was often bespoke in a way that would not be very well regarded today. A hardware-portable compiled system like early Unix, designed for practicality and real use, was a huge novelty back then.