[Info-vax] VAX Macro to C conversion

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 7/9/19 3:08 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2019-07-08, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>
>> Macro-32 is an assembler on the VAX.  On Alpha, itanic, and x86 is is a
>> compiled language, and not anything you'd want to use on the non-VAX
>> systems.  Just ask John.  It exists strictly for existing code.
>>
> 
> It's nothing to do with whether it's an assembler or a compiler.

Both are merely semantics.  Both are programs that take human
readable input and generate machine runable object code.

> 
> It's to do with the fact that assembly language is so low level
> and error prone even when compared to C.

The current MACRO-32 compiler can not be low level by any stretch
of the imagination. I can not believe any VAX instruction would
map directly and with the same semantics with the instruction set
of the Alpha or the IA64.  The same would be true for the x86-64.

> 
>> However, if your target was a VAX, (not available anymore), it might be
>> a viable choice, or not.
>>
> 
> These days, the only thing anyone uses assembly language for in
> new code are the small segments which cannot be coded even in C.

Except maybe in embedded systems I doubt any need for this still
exists.  And in the embedded world they might write a lot more
in assembler.  But I doubt it.

bill