[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 01/24/2018 10:36 AM, DaveFroble wrote:
> John Reagan wrote:
>> On Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 8:49:22 AM UTC-5, Paul Sture wrote:
>>> On 2018-01-24, Arne Vajhøj <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>>>> On 1/23/2018 3:17 PM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>>>> In article <p45v88$1u3q$1 at gioia.aioe.org>, 
>>>>> =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=c3=b8j?=
>>>>> <arne at vajhoej.dk> writes:
>>>>>> Languages needed for old stuff:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Fortran - HP/VSI, will be ported
>>>>>> Languages needed for new stuff:
>>>>> Hey!  One can write new code in Fortran!
>>>> You can.
>>>>
>>>> But if you look at 1000 new applications how many of them will
>>>> actually be in Fortran?
>>> If you look at the scientific and High Performance world, Fortran
>>> is still in use.
>>>
>>> There is of course lots of existing Fortran 77 code, but Fortran 77
>>> apparently still has a distinct performance advantage over later
>>> versions, so it is used for new programs as well.
>>>
>>>> My guess: most likely none, maybe one or two.
>>> Probably more if you confine your search to the sector which uses
>>> Fortran already.
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> In 1911, Hollerith's firm was merged with several other producers of
>>> specialized business equipment to produce CTR, the Computing-Tabulating
>>> -Recording Company. The "Computing" part referred to weighing scales -
>>> an interesting example of how language evolves over time.
>>
>> There is a new Fortran frontend for LLVM named 'flang'.
>> https://github.com/flang-compiler/flang
>>
> 
> John, you know a bit about languages.  Let me ask a question.
> 
> I'll preface the question by admitting that I view much of the "new 
> languages" as some people who just want to "re-invent the wheel".
> 
> Do the "new languages" actually present more and better capabilities?
> 
> 

Some do, for particular things.  Try writing a mobile app in Fortran.
But for much of the real work that drives business (like processing
credit card transactions or computing actuary tables languages like
COBOL and Fortran are still really the best choice.  The only thing
driving the move away from them is academia's decision to drive the bus
off a cliff rather than preparing students for entry into the IT world
(their actual job!!) by not only not teaching the requisite languages
but trying to sway students into believing the languages are dead and
totally unused.

bill