[Info-vax] Learning VMS application programming

[Jan-Erik Soderholm]

wendellxe at yahoo.com wrote 2014-09-02 22:27:
> I've been looking for a tutorial book on VMS programming, something akin
> to Rochkind's _Advanced Unix Programming_. I haven't found anything
> online, but I've seen mention of these two books. Could anyone comment
> on their contents and/or recommend something else?
>
> Writing VAX/VMS Applications Using Pascal (Theo de Klerk, 1991)
>
> Software Implementation Techniques: Writing Software in OpenVMS, OS/2,
> UNIX and Windows NT (Donald Merusi, 1995)
>
> Coming from Unix, I'm used to designing around the interaction of small,
> modular tools and using flat text files as a common interchange format.
> I need a thorough explanation of how to best design around VMS's heavier
> process model and relative complexity of the RMS.
>
> I have looked through much of the docs available from HP, but they are
> not suitable tutorial material.
>

Hi.
It is a bit hard to guide without knowing what you are implementing.
Quite a lot of programming on OpenVMS evolves around Rdb, a rather
standard relational SQL database (now owned by Oracle).

The questions about small/more programs or larger/fewer programs is
not *that* an issue today with todays systems and disk subsystems.

There is a guy, Roland Hughes, that have written a book on
development in OpenVMS. I have it, haven't read it all, but
it looks good. And it was published on 2005, so quite newer
then the two you mention.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/156171330/The-Minimum-You-Need-to-Know-to-Be-an-OpenVMS-Application-Developer

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/minimum-you-need-to-know-to-be-an-openvms-application-developer-roland-hughes/1100968909?ean=9780977086634

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sample/read/9780977086634

You can not be without the OpenVMS manuals such as:
- HP OpenVMS Programming Concepts Manual
- HP OpenVMS Calling Standard
to just mentjon two of them. But you will obviously need a lot
of the documention, in particular if your are new to OpenVMS.

Then add the language specific manuals, e.g. for C:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/commercial/c/index_i64.html

Jan-Erik.