[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[DaveFroble]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 01/24/2018 04:01 PM, DaveFroble wrote:
>> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>> On 01/24/2018 11:47 AM, DaveFroble wrote:
>>>> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>>> 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
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> While not very good at performance, compiler wasn't written for 
>>>> performance, Basic can do most of that stuff very well, and much more.
>>>>
>>>> Much the same comparison can be made with your "bus off a cliff" 
>>>> comment, when looking at "the professionals" here and their attitude 
>>>> toward Basic, right?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Given what it was designed for BASIC was never taken seriously.  Even
>>> after ANSIfication it was still not overly practical as most versions
>>> were interpreted and not compiled. What data type of none-integer does
>>> BASIC support that can do calculations with decimals without the
>>> cumulative error common to floating point?
>>>
>>> bill
>>>
>>
>> When talking about DEC Basic, it's not anything like prior 
>> implementations.
>>
>>
>> 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).
>>
>> Is that Ok ?
>>
>>
> 
> Already been addressed.  DEC BASIC != BASIC.
> 
> bill
> 
> 

Don't you mean DEC BASIC <> BASIC ??

And yes, it might almost be considered a separate language, sharing the name.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
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