>>samiam@moorecad.com wrote:

>>> P5 is a much better basis for a compiler front end, being 40 years
>>> old, very well documented, and completely ISO 7185 compliant (not a
>>> subset), and completely free of copyright or license encumberments.

>> Where is the copyright/license/public domain statement from its
>> authors? I didn't find them in p5.zip from your web site. Note that
>> "no copyright notice" doesn't mean "no copyright", but in fact the
>> opposite "all rights reserved" is the default. Like it or not,
>> that's the legal situation.

>Only since the Berne convention was adopted. Pascal-P predates the
>Berne convention (in the USA, I guess it depends on where and which
>treaty you are talking about, Berne dates back to 1886)[1], it was
>written in 1972. It was also openly distributed to anyone that asked
>for it. Steve Pemberton published it without
>problems (or agreement with the original authors) in his book, and
>made it available on his web site, again without restrictions (and
>I asked the author about it personally).

Oh, also, Pascal-P was:

- Incorporated into UCSD Pascal, which was then later both given out

  and sold.

- Used as the basis for several other compilers, including the DEC-10

  compiler, which is also freely available on the web.

None of these people paid a dime to the original Wirth group.

I suspect only the bible as a longer pedigree as a public domain

work !

Scott Moore