[Info-vax] VAX Macro to C conversion

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 7/10/19 8:49 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 7/10/2019 8:42 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 7/10/19 2:20 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> On 7/10/2019 2:15 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>> On 7/10/19 1:57 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> On 7/10/2019 9:34 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>>>> On 7/9/19 10:37 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>>>> * no string type
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So what?  What's so great about a string type?  Fortran
>>>>>> didn't have it until 77.  Pascal didn't have it until UCSD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Neither Fortran 77 nor UCSD Pascal are recent.
>>>>>
>>>>> :-)
>>>>
>>>> And neither is C.
>>>
>>> True.
>>>
>>> But while Fortran and Pascal fixed the problem, then C
>>> did not.
>>
>> Actually, it did.  A long time ago.
>> 1983 PDP-11 Software Source Book -- Page 1395
>> 1986 VAX Software Source Book -- Page 1155
>>
>> The Safe C Compiler.
>>  From Catalytix Corp.
>>
>> OSes supported: RSTS, RSX, RT-11, ULTRIX-11, UNIX, ULTRIX-32, VMS.
> 
> Did it have a string type?
> 

I seriously doubt it as it then wouldn't have been C.  :-)

"The language understood by the Safe C Compiler is identical
  to that understood by the standard C compilers."

But, it had a lot of the checks people here keep arguing that C
needs.  Array indexing, Stray Pointers, mismatched formal and
actual parameters, Misuse of string functions, etc.

And the industry rejected it completely.  None of its features
ever showed up in C Compilers that followed.

So, tell me, why did none of these things find their way into
the VMS C Compilers?

bill