[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[Mark Berryman]

On 1/31/18 2:50 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> .
 > .
 > .
> Ever heard of a EMR called Epic?  It's also written in ANSI-M (the
> correct name for MUMPS today!)  
Small correction.

ANSI-M is not the correct name because MUMPS is no longer an ANSI 
standard language.

Long story made (hopefully) brief:
During the time of the MUMPS language there were two major players 
(Digital and Intersystems) and several smaller players.
Digital sold its MUMPS implementation to Intersystems in 1995.  Around 
this time, Intersystems also gobbled up a good number of the smaller 
players in this field.  After this, no more standards were submitted for 
accreditation.

The organizations responsible for defining the MUMPS standards were 
known as the MDC (MUMPS Development Committee) and the MTA (M Technology 
Association).  The last meeting of the MDC was in 1999.  The MTA 
dissolved by the end of 2001.  Once the MTA ceased to exist, all ANSI 
standards regarding the MUMPS language were administratively removed.

MUMPS is, however, still an ISO standard language.  This standard was 
renewed in 2010.  However, it was simply a renewal of the 1999 ISO 
standard, which was the same as the ANSI 1995 standard.

When one speaks of commercial uses of MUMPS today, it is usually either 
Intersystems Cache, or GT.M (which I believe is now owned by Fidelity 
National Information Services).  There are still a number free 
implementations available, of varying degrees of quality.

As for the name, officially M is an alternative name or nickname for the 
language.  MUMPS is still the official name.  Both names are used in the 
standards documents.

Mark Berryman
(former MDC member)