[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS
DaveFroble
davef at tsoft-inc.com
Wed Jan 24 11:52:42 EST 2018
Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Den 2018-01-24 kl. 16:36, skrev DaveFroble:
>> 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?
>>
>
> Is a screwdriver better then a hammer? I would guess that you
> understand that the answer is that "it depends"...
>
> In our case, Cobol is "best" for our core applications since it
> gives smooth and fast applications for our end-users. At the same
> time, Python is "best" for reporting and web-facing tools since
> it has the builtin tools to make *that* development easier.
>
> It is a little weird that you hae to ask that quesstins at all.
Actually, not.
While useful, your Python is more a large number of library routines,
implemented in some other language, than it is a programming language.
I guess we could argue symantics about what is and what is not a "language",
since much the same could be said about a compiler. In fact, much of what the
Basic compiler does is invoke library routines, which is one reason for less
than stellar performance.
So I think the question is valid.
--
David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA 15486
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