[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 1/21/2018 8:02 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> The recent revelation that a modern Ada is no longer available for VMS
> leads me to ask if people here know of any other languages whose future
> on x86-64 VMS (or VMS in general) is in doubt ?
> 
> If you do, is there anything VSI can do right now to reduce the chances
> of this becoming a major problem for the language in question in the
> future ?
> 
> I'll start by mentioning one example from my past which is a programming
> language called Synergy. This is a third party version of DEC's DIBOL
> language and was recommended by DEC as the replacement for DIBOL.
> 
> I am out of touch with the current support situation as I have not used
> the language for several years (since I left my last job). However,
> I imagine there are still a number of VMS sites using it so I wonder
> if Synergex will be porting their compiler to x86-64 VMS.
> 
> So, do you know of any languages which are of particular concern to you ?

My take on the language situation from a high level perspective is
as follows.

Languages needed for old stuff:

Fortran - HP/VSI, will be ported
Cobol - HP/VSI, will be ported
Basic - HP/VSI, will be ported
Pascal - HP/VSI, will be ported
C - HP/VSI, will be ported
C++ - HP/VSI, will get a new implementation
PL/I - Kednos is out of business, no port
Ada - ACT has dropped VMS but adaall starting up, possible port

Languages needed for new stuff:

C - HP/VSI, will be ported
C++ - HP/VSI, will get a new implementation
Rust - no plans as far as I know
Java - HP/VSI, will be ported
Scala - will work when Java works
Kotlin - will work when Java works
PHP - HP/VSI has an obsolete version, volunteers provide uptodate 
version, I assume it will be ported
C# (.NET Core or Mono) - no plans as far as I know
Python - volunteer provided version is getting old, not sure if it will 
get ported
Ruby - no idea of status

Arne