View source for PWB/UNIX

{{Short description|Early variant of Unix (1977) created by Bell Labs}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox OS
| name                   = Programmer's Workbench (PWB/UNIX)<!-- Name of program or distribution -->
| logo                   = <!-- filename only (no wikilink, no Image:/File:) -->
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| collapsible            = 
| version of             = <!-- For articles about releases of operating systems ONLY -->
| developer              = [[Bell Labs|AT&T Bell Laboratories]]<!-- Name of main developer or sponsor-->
| family                 = [[Unix]]<!-- "Unix-like" or "Microsoft Windows" -->
| working state          = Discontinued<!-- "Current", "Discontinued" (operating systems), or "No longer supported" (releases) -->
| source model           = <!-- "Open source", "Closed source", or "Shared source" -->
| released               = {{Start date and age|1977|7|1}}
| discontinued           = <!-- DON'T use this for articles about releases of operating systems -->
| RTM date               = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} ONLY for articles about OS releases -->
| GA date                = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} ONLY for articles about OS releases -->
| latest release version = 2.0
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| latest preview date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
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| programmed in          = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| language               = [[English language|English]]<!-- Supported human languages (English, French, Italian, Arabic, ...) -->
| update model           = <!-- APT, Windows Update, etc. -->
| package manager        = <!-- dpkg, rpm, Windows installer, etc. -->
| supported platforms    = [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[PDP-11]]<!-- IA-32, x64, Itanium, ARM, etc. -->
| kernel type            = <!-- Hybrid, Monolithic, Microkernel, Exokernel, Nanokernel, etc. -->
| userland               = 
| ui                     = [[Command-line interface]] ([[PWB shell]])
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| website                = <!-- {{URL|www.example.org}} -->
| support status         = <!-- For articles about releases of operating systems ONLY -->
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The '''Programmer's Workbench''' ('''PWB/UNIX''') was an early, now discontinued, version of the [[Unix]] [[operating system]] that had been created in the [[Bell Labs]] Computer Science Research Group of [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]]. Its stated goal was to provide a [[time-sharing]] working environment for large groups of programmers, writing software for larger [[batch processing]] computers.<ref>{{cite conference |author1=T.A. Dolotta |author2=J.R. Mashey |year=1976 |title=An introduction to the Programmer's Workbench |conference=Proc. 2nd Int'l Conf. on Software Engineering |pages=164–168}}</ref>

Prior to 1973 Unix development at AT&T was a project of a small group of researchers in Department 1127 of [[Bell Labs]]. As the usefulness of Unix in other departments of Bell Labs was evident, the company decided to develop a version of Unix tailored to support programmers in production work, not just research. The Programmer's Workbench was started in 1973,<ref name="Mashey">John R. Mashey (2004). [http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039532 Languages, Levels, Libraries, and Longevity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430161952/http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039532 |date=2009-04-30 }}. ACM Queue '''2''' (9).</ref> by Evan Ivie and [[Rudd Canaday]] to support a computer center for a 1000-employee Bell Labs division, which would be the largest Unix site for several years. PWB/UNIX was to provide tools for teams of programmers to manage their [[source code]] and collaborate on projects with other team members. It also introduced several stability improvements beyond Research Unix,<ref name="bstj"/> and broadened usage of the Research [[nroff]] and [[troff]] text formatters,{{r|fiedler198310}} via efforts with Bell Labs typing pools that led to the -mm macros.

While PWB users managed their source code on [[PDP-11]] Unix systems, programs were often written to run on other operating systems. For this reason, PWB included software for submitting jobs to [[IBM]] [[System/370]], [[UNIVAC 1100/2200 series|UNIVAC 1100 series]], and [[Scientific Data Systems|SDS]] [[SDS Sigma 5|Sigma 5]] computers. In 1977 PWB supported a user community of about 1100 users in the Business Information Systems Programs (BISP) group of Bell Labs.<ref name="bstj">{{citation |author1=T.A. Dolotta |author2=R.C. Haight |author3=J.R. Mashey |year=1978 |url=http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol57-1978/articles/bstj57-6-2177.pdf |url-status=dead |title=Unix Time-Sharing System: The Programmer's Workbench |journal=Bell System Tech. J. |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=2177–2200 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1978.tb02148.x |s2cid=21869088 |access-date=2012-12-14 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol57-1978/articles/bstj57-6-2177.pdf }}</ref><ref name="fiedler198310">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-10/1983_10_BYTE_08-10_UNIX#page/n133/mode/2up | title=The Unix Tutorial / Part 3: Unix in the Microcomputer Marketplace | work=BYTE | date=October 1983 | access-date=30 January 2015 | author=Fiedler, Ryan | pages=132}}</ref>

Two major releases of Programmer's Workbench were produced. PWB/UNIX 1.0, released July 1, 1977 was based on [[Version 6 Unix]]; PWB 2.0 was based on [[Version 7 Unix]]. The operating system was advertised by Bell System Software as late as 1981<ref>{{cite web |title=Unix Advertising |author=Dennis M. Ritchie |url=http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/unixad.html |access-date=17 February 2014 |website=former Bell Labs Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102004255/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/unixad.html |archive-date=2 January 2013 }}</ref> and edition 1.0 was still on an AT&T price list for educational institutions in 1984.<ref>{{cite web |title=Software List for UNIX System V |url=https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/licenses/acprice83.pdf |date=1 September 1983 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=11 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611114528/https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/licenses/acprice83.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of PWB/UNIX was later incorporated in the commercial [[UNIX System III]] and [[UNIX System V]] releases.

==Features==
Notable firsts in PWB include:
* The [[Source Code Control System]], the first UNIX [[revision control]] system, written by [[Marc Rochkind|Marc J. Rochkind]]
* The [[remote job entry]] batch-submission system
* The [[PWB shell]], written by [[John R. Mashey]], which preceded [[Stephen R. Bourne|Steve Bourne]]'s [[Bourne shell]]
* The restricted shell (''rsh''), an option of the PWB shell, used to create widely-available logins for status-checking, trouble-reporting, but made safe by restricting commands 
* The [[troff]] ''-mm'' (memorandum) macro package, written by John R. Mashey and Dale W. Smith
* Utilities like [[Find (Unix)|find]], [[cpio]], [[expr]], all three written by Dick Haight, [[xargs]], [[grep#Implementations|egrep]] and fgrep
* [[yacc]] and [[lex programming tool|lex]], which, though not written specifically for PWB, were available outside of Bell Labs for the first time in the PWB distribution

==See also==
* [[Research Unix]]
* [[Writer's Workbench]] ("WWB")

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{citation|title=The Programmer's Workbench &mdash; A Machine for Software Development|volume=20|issue=10|date=October 1977|pages=746–753|publisher=[[Communications of the ACM|CACM]]|doi=10.1145/359842.359856|last1=Ivie |first1=Evan L. |journal=Communications of the ACM |s2cid=17647129 |doi-access=free}}
* [http://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/unixad.html Unix ad mentioning PWB], from a 1981 issue of [[Datamation]] (on [[Dennis Ritchie]]'s homepage)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060924132637/http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/PDP-11/Distributions/usdl/ PWB distributions], from the Ancient UNIX Archive

{{Bell Unix}}
{{Unix-like}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:PWB UNIX}}
[[Category:Unix history]]
[[Category:Unix variants]]
[[Category:Bell Labs Unices]]