[Info-vax] String handling, was: Re: C... the only winning move is not to play...

[Simon Clubley]

On 2014-02-15, VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG <VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG> wrote:
> In article <ldnqvk$4vd$1 at dont-email.me>, Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>
>>Is VMS Basic's fixed length string really the same as a Bounded_String
>>(with a dynamic length component) ?
>>
>>I'm more used to something described as a fixed length string really
>>being a immutable length (think Ada's String data type as a example here).
>>
>>For example, I don't mentally think of "unsigned char buffer[80];" as
>>being a fixed length string. I think of it as more like a Bounded_String
>>but with a length indicated by a special character (0x00) instead of
>>a explicit length.
>
> http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/73final/5936/5936pro_001.html
>

I was asking about VMS Basic (ie: DEC/CPQ/HP Basic) not about how
VMS implements string handling.

IOW, when David talked about fixed strings in VMS Basic, did he
really mean fixed strings in the sense of Ada's String data type
in which the length is immutable, or did he really mean something
closer to Ada's Bounded_String data type ?

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world