> I'm not sure what you mean by "coincidence" or "accident" here.
I mean Unix had to be written in C, not in, say, Algol or PL/I or BLISS, high-level languages used to write other operating systems.
I also meant that the features of C were not put there by impulse or whim, they were the outcome of considered decisions guided by the specific needs of Unix.
> Although we entertained occasional thoughts about implementing one of the major languages of the time like Fortran, PL/I, or Algol 68, such a project seemed hopelessly large for our resources: much simpler and smaller tools were called for. All these languages influenced our work, but it was more fun to do things on our own.
They say right there that Fortran, PL/I, and Algol 68 were too big and complicated for Unix. Yes, if you are building a system, it is more productive to use a language that is built for purpose and pleasant to work with ("fun") than one you have to struggle against all the time.
I mean Unix had to be written in C, not in, say, Algol or PL/I or BLISS, high-level languages used to write other operating systems.
I also meant that the features of C were not put there by impulse or whim, they were the outcome of considered decisions guided by the specific needs of Unix.