The Howdy Glossary

BLISS is a systems programming language created in the 1970s at Carnegie Mellon University by Wulf, Russell, Habermann, and Feldman. Developed for computer research and real-time applications, BLISS featured a block structure and separate declarations of data types and variables. It was prominently used on Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-10 and PDP-11 minicomputers before being overshadowed by C. Despite its decline in usage, BLISS has influenced subsequent languages like C++.

The language's block structure with separate declarations for data types and variables provided an organized coding environment that enhanced readability and maintainability. This made it particularly suitable for systems programming and real-time applications which required clear code structures. The competitive landscape saw BLISS face off against C, which offered more flexibility and direct hardware access—traits that contributed to C’s eventual dominance in the industry.

BLISS was specifically geared toward professionals involved in system software development who sought precision, reliability, and low-level control over hardware interfaces. Its advantages lay in its structured syntax that facilitated error reduction and efficient code management. Although it eventually lost ground to C due to the latter’s versatility across various computing platforms, BLISS remains notable for its contributions to programming language design principles that impacted future languages like C++.