[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 01/31/2018 07:47 PM, seasoned_geek wrote:
> On Friday, January 26, 2018 at 3:29:54 PM UTC-6, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 01/26/2018 03:36 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>
>> Totally unique to DEC.  Later RSTS, RSX and then VMS.  I have
>> worked with a number of versions of BASIC and no others did it.
>>
>> Considering that VMS BASIC has the DECIMAL type makes one wonder
>> why they keep STRING Arithmetic.
>>
> 
> I swear to God I worked on some other BASIC dialect which also had the string math, but cannot for the life of me remember what it was . . . Commodore? TRS-80?

Definitely not the TRS-80 (any of the real ones).  I know, as I still 
have them running here next to me.

Oh, ands as for the comment on compiling BASIC, MS Basic has had a
compiler since the TRS-80 days, too.  I know because I have still
have it.  Along with COBOL, Fortran, a couple Pascals, APL and C.

> 
> If DEC BASIC still supports LSET and RSET for use with FIELD$()  might have syntax wrong on the last one, for dealing with string record buffers ala RSTS/E days, they have to keep all of the string math functions.
> 
> Better question though.
> 
> If you've already coded them and they still work, why get rid of them?
> 
> Nobody is going to port a DEC BASIC program to a lesser platform.


Lesser is still a matter of opinion.  :-)

bill