[Info-vax] decnet guide

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2016-10-21 14:53, Bob Koehler wrote:
> In article <nua1uu$nrf$1 at Iltempo.Update.UU.SE>, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> writes:
>> On 2016-10-19 15:24, Bob Koehler wrote:
>>> In article <nu689v$2j52$1 at news.kjsl.com>, helbig at asclothestro.multivax.de (Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)) writes:
>>>>
>>>> OK, in Fortran77 the maximum length of
>>>> a variable was 6 characters, and the same goes for DECnet node names,
>>>> but I don't think that DECnet is written in Fortran.
>>>
>>>    In who's compiler, or to what tandard?  I knew a lot of Fortran-IV
>>>    (aka 66) compilers with such limitiations, but never -77.
>>
>> The DEC F77 compiler for the PDP-11 at least have a 6 character
>> limitation on variable names...
>>
>
>    Had tons of F77 code on RSX-11M, don't recall that limitation.  In
>    fact, it seemed to go away before DEC released Fortran 4+ (F77 before
>    it was standardized).
>
>    Perhaps the compiler on a different PDP-11 OS?

No, this is in fact the RSX compiler. You are welcome to look at it. 
Telnet to Mim.Update.UU.SE, login with guest/guest, and you have F77 
T5.4 (which is the latest) installed.

The limitation is definitely there.

Output if you have a 7 character variable name:
.f77 HELFTN,HELFTN=HELLO.FTN
F77 -- ERROR 85-W Name longer than 6 characters
                   [TEGER*2 FOOBARX] in module HELLO at line 2
F77 -- 1 Error  HELLO.FTN;3

In addition, all global symbols are also just 6 letters, as this is 
stored in two words in Radix-50, in the object files which TKB process.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol