[Info-vax] Learning VMS application programming

[Paul Sture]

On 2014-09-07, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
> On 2014-09-07 00:34:26 +0000, Paul Sture said:
>
>> On 2014-09-06, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
>>> On 2014-09-06 20:20:33 +0000, wendellxe at yahoo.com said:
>>> 
>>>> I never saw Fortran used for systems programming before.
>>> 
>>> Fortran is not used for system programming on VMS.   It's an 
>>> application-programming language.
>>> 
>>> C, Bliss and Macro32 assembler are most commonly used for system-level 
>>> programming on VMS.
>> 
>> Since I just stated in another post that Fortan was the first HLL 
>> language available for VAX/VMS, was Bliss available to the public 
>> before it appeared on the Freeware CDs?
>
> DEC was selling Bliss early on, or at least trying to.
>
> Then wasn't LJK looking for Bliss to be made more widely available, 
> which culminated in its inclusion on the Freeware?

Bliss was on the first Freeware CD (April 1995) which is quite a bit
earlier than I thought.  From (my copy) of
[DECUS.FREEWAREV10.FREEWARE]FREEWARE_READ_ME.TXT

"Many of these tools are popular packages already widely known and in use,
while others are internally developed Digital tools our engineers are
making available to our OpenVMS customers. For example, the OpenVMS
Freeware CD-ROM includes Bliss-32 for OpenVMS VAX, Bliss-32 for OpenVMS
Alpha, and Bliss-64 for OpenVMS Alpha."

>> In my experience Fortran was used for system programming in customer 
>> land before C came along, though the tendency was just to head straight 
>> for Macro for many projects.
>
> I'm using "system programming" to refer to "operating system 
> programming", as differentiated from application systems.  That is, I'm 
> referring to the languages used for OpenVMS device drivers, kernel-mode 
> code, and related programs.

Understood.

-- 
Nothing says poor craftsmanship more than wrinkled duct tape.