[Info-vax] Porting logical name applications to Unix

[Bob Harris]

In article <00b7761a$0$29107$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>,
 JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:

> ChaosLess wrote:
> 
> > if your use of logical names and devices is very simple and  you can
> > rewrite it to config files then you are lucky.  our experience is that
> > these are some of the features that are most entwined into what
> > applications expect to find in their (VMS native) environment.
> 
> My goal is to become fully acclimatised to Unix and think in Unix terms.
> Yes, it is a downgrade in many ways. But that is part of life. Since
> logical names arte not native in Unixland, I want to adapt to what
> Unixland does when they design apps.

I have years of both OpenVMS (PATHWORKS for OpenVMS, being one), 
and Unix (Tru64 UNIX AdvFS, being another) programming experience.

Overall, I prefer Unix (even though I was exposed to OpenVMS 
first).  But it is important NOT to think in OpenVMS terms, or you 
will just get annoyed.  As it is, you will most likely be annoyed 
because TPU/EVE/EDT is not one of the common editors on Unix :-)

While the book I am going to recommend is rather old and long in 
the tooth, in my opinion it does a very good job of introducing 
the key Unix concepts.

The "Unix Programming Environment" (Prentice-Hall Software Series) 
by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike.  Considering it was published 
in 1984, but is still in print, I think is a good recommendation 
as to its timeless nature.

Others have pointed out that Environment variables and symlinks 
provide some of the services Logical Names have been forced to 
hold.  But saying that is like saying Sharks and Killer Whales in 
the oceans provide the same services as Wolf Packs and Hawks do on 
land.  This is only true when you stand far enough away so that 
the details are not visible.