[Info-vax] VMS and the embedded world, was: Re: PowerX Roadmap - Extended beyond 2020

[Simon Clubley]

On 2016-10-24, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) <helbig at asclothestro.multivax.de> wrote:
>
> I remember a while back when some bugs showed up in VMS MAIL and it
> turned out that they were introduced when MAIL was converted from BLISS
> to C.  That doesn't put the blame on C, of course, but raises the
> question whether a port to another language is worth the risks. 
> (Personally, I think that many languages are more readable than C, and 
> as a result I would certainly write better code in languages other than 
> C.  On the other hand, of course, a good Fortran programmer can write 
> Fortran in any language.)
>

I suppose it depends on what you are trying to achieve.

The decision to rewrite VMS mail in isolation seems a little
strange but standardised higher level system programming languages
do bring to the table a number of advantages especially when
you are replacing assembly language code (as opposed to pseudo
higher level languages such as BLISS above).

C is not exactly a great language by today's standards (it would have
been nice if a Pillar/Wirth-style language had become established
instead) but it's better than the assembly language it replaced.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world