[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 01/24/2018 05:28 PM, Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Den 2018-01-24 kl. 20:39, skrev Arne Vajhøj:
>> On 1/24/2018 1:59 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>> On 01/24/2018 01:21 PM, Craig A. Berry wrote:
>>>> On Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 11:26:04 AM UTC-6, Bill Gunshannon 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> What data type of none-integer does
>>>>> BASIC support that can do calculations with decimals without the
>>>>> cumulative error common to floating point?
>>>>
>>>> Just a wild guess, but maybe the DECIMAL data type?
>>>>
>>>> $ help/library=basichelp data_types decimal
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> DATA_TYPES
>>>>
>>>>    DECIMAL
>>>>
>>>>       The DECIMAL(d,s) data type keyword specifies  packed  decimal 
>>>> data.   A
>>>>       packed  decimal  value  has  a  specified  number  of  digits 
>>>> (d) and a
>>>>       specified decimal point position (s).
>>
>>> Thank you.  I suspected there was such in DEC BASIC.
>>> Thus leading to my next question.
>>>
>>> Is it part of the ANSI Standard? How many versions of BASIC have
>>> it?  It is always a bad idea to bet on non-standard features in
>>> any language.
>>
>> Fair point.
>>
> 
> Is there an ANSI standard for Java? 

Different control.  It's proprietary and the owner keeps tight control.
But I am sure someone like GNU will eventually come out with an
incompatible version. :-)

>                                       Or for any of the high profile
> languages running on the Java JVM? IS there a ANSI standard for any
> of the "modern" languages that VMS is said to be missing?

I am not advocating the use of any of those languages.  I have been
pointing out the problems with them for years.  Like my recently
re-mentioned lack of upward compatibility in PHP.  Something a
standards body would have been likely to take into consideration.

> 
> My point is that the availablility of an ANSI standard might not
> be what the market at large is asking about.

Sadly, at least in this business, "the market at large" tend to
be idiots who have no problem betting their business on the language
du jour no matter how bad it might be.  Many things in this business
have not been improved over the years.

> 
> Anyway, "DECIMAL" is at least a reserved word in ANSI X3.113-1987
> "Programming Languages Full BASIC", so yes, DECIMAL is part of
> the ANSI standard for Basic. But so what?

And Fortran is a reserved word in PDP-11 COBOL.  What does that mean?
I searched.  I found DECIMAL in VB but nothing about it in ANSI BASIC.

Using non-standard extensions in any language not only makes it
non-portable but also makes the program not in the language it
is claiming to be.

bill