[Info-vax] Learning VMS application programming

[Bob Gezelter]

On Tuesday, September 2, 2014 4:27:30 PM UTC-4, wend... at yahoo.com wrote:
> 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?
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>     Writing VAX/VMS Applications Using Pascal (Theo de Klerk, 1991)
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>     Software Implementation Techniques: Writing Software in OpenVMS, OS/2, UNIX and Windows NT (Donald Merusi, 1995)
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> 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.
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> I have looked through much of the docs available from HP, but they are not suitable tutorial material.

Wendy,

With regards to RMS, its presence is often effectively transparent, particularly for sequential files (indexed files are a different discussion). When writing using a language runtime, the different file formats are generally handled by RMS without your having to specify anything. The various performance-related parameters (e.g., buffering, blocksize) can be safely ignored in the beginning.

The most useful encyclopedical reference is the Programming Concepts Manual.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com