[Info-vax] 64 bit DCL ?

[VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG]

In article <571cef69-9865-4c6c-bdba-6c00dc1d8737 at googlegroups.com>, Keith Cayemberg <keith.cayemberg at arcor.de> writes:
>
>> > I would say that it would depend upon how it was implemented.
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > --=20
>> > VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(do=
>t)ORG
>> >=20
>> > I speak to machines with the voice of humanity.
>>=20
>> Yes, I think VAXman has the right idea. OpenVMS implements 64-bit functio=
>ns and operations to be elective and concurrent within images also using th=
>e original 32-bit functions and operations. This is true for most all the t=
>raditional programming languages on OpenVMS. There should be no reason that=
> the implementation of DCL could also achieve this flexible programmer frie=
>ndly design without disturbing previously existent DCL code.
>>=20
>> One potential implementation design would be to introduce a new quadword =
>radix symbol %q. %d would remain as an explicit 32-bit radix symbol. DCL co=
>ntinues to assume all operators and variables are 32-bit. But once an expre=
>ssion includes an explicit %q in the enumeration of an operand (or a symbol=
> with the new symbol type QUADINT), then all operators and also the resulti=
>ng symbol assign are implemented in their 64-bit form.=20
>>=20
>> To maintain backward compatibility, F$TYPE would continue to return INTEG=
>ER for both 32-bit and 64-bit integers. A new lexical could be introduced s=
>uch as F$NUMTYPE to differentiate between the two integer lengths INTEGER a=
>nd QUADINT .
>>=20
>> Of course DCL would need additional limit checks and error messages for i=
>ncorrect usage of 32-bit and 64-bit symbols and constants in the various le=
>xicals and math/byte operators.=20
>>=20
>> Cheers!
>>=20
>> Keith Cayemberg
>
>Hmmm, I have reconsidered the choice of QUADINT as a reserved word for DCL.=
> It would probably be more correct to use QUADWORD or just QUAD.

Perhaps, something as simple as...

$ ENABLE QUADWORD
$ DISABLE QUADWORD

wherein all integer math would then be 64 bit.  The integer symbol maintains
a storage of a 4 byte value.  If quadword mode is enabled, the integer symbol
would maintain 8 bytes.  In fact, I'd see a change where the integer symbol
would be modified to maintain 8 bytes sign-extended.  Then, traditional 32
bit integer math could go unchanged.  

Of course, there would be changes needed in DCL when/where math upon these
symbols is performed but such changes could be made transparent as well and
enabled with syntax such as I've described.

-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

I speak to machines with the voice of humanity.