[Info-vax] VAX Macro to C conversion

[Dave Froble]

On 7/8/2019 8:58 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2019-07-08, Michael Moroney <moroney at world.std.spaamtrap.com> wrote:
>> seasoned_geek <roland at logikalsolutions.com> writes:
>>
>>> On Monday, June 24, 2019 at 7:39:07 AM UTC-5, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>>
>>>> How much work would be involved in a rewrite of the shadowing code in C ?
>>>>
>>
>>> Careful there. You are forgetting the C compiler is roughly 2 decades behind in
>>> standards and capabilities.
>>
>> Out-of-date C compilers would be the least of the problems with such a
>> rewrite.
>
> Yes, but if you were implementing something like this from scratch
> these days, you would use C instead of Macro-32 simply because of
> all the major advantages C brings you, even with an old compiler.
>
> And before all you Macro-32 lovers jump on me for that comment, :-)
> remember that times change and for good reason.
>
> I understand why huge amounts of VMS were written in Macro-32 back
> in the 1970s and why it was probably the correct choice for that era.
>
> It doesn't mean it's the right choice however if you were to do VMS
> from scratch in the 21st century, or even if you were to do any new
> significant additions to the existing VMS codebase.
>
> Simon.
>

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.

However, if your target was a VAX, (not available anymore), it might be 
a viable choice, or not.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
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