[Info-vax] PC/VT Keyboarrd Mapping

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-06-26 17:20:33 +0000, John Reagan said:

> On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 12:20:56 PM UTC-4, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>> On 2016-06-26 15:39:57 +0000, John Reagan said:
>> 
>>> It might have to do with some DECC$ logicals I set.
>> 
>> Nuke those from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure those logical> 
>> names won't continue to derail unrelated applications.
> 
> We are doing some CRTL work right now (adding stdint.h, adding missing 
> stuff to other headers, untangling the mess inside math.h, etc.).  
> There are about 1/3rd of the logicals that I'm tempted to remove and 
> pick a 'mandatory default'.  I don't think anybody would know (but then 
> again, those probably aren't the ones screwing people over).

Add a linked-in object module containing the settings data and some 
symbols accessible from the code behind main() and the VAXC$CRTL_INIT 
callback (there's a Compaq C reference in the local HELP CRTL help 
library entry for that call, too) or some such, and deprecate all of 
the DECC$ logical names.   Or if they're not already linked into the 
module via that object module containing data, update the code behind 
main() able to read a same-name-as-the-image settings file from a 
searchlist of directories — that'd at least let most apps retrofit a 
saner settings design, and without relinking.  Do the settings file 
contents using json or such, and allow the app to read user settings 
from there, and pretty soon you have something approaching a more 
manageable design.   Maybe even use SET IMAGE to manage the contents of 
the module in the executable.   For compatibility, some CC /UNHACK 
/OUTPUT=settings.json tool that reads the current forest of logical 
names and creates the json file and/or the data object to link into the 
executable.

> And some, like this one being discussed, should have never seen the 
> light of day.

The whole management-by-logical name design — this DECC$ logical name 
implementation, and across all of the other users of that approach I've 
encountered — accumulates technical debt faster than a black hole 
accumulates mass.   KIWF.


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