[Info-vax] VAX Macro to C conversion

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 7/20/19 1:17 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 7/20/2019 9:22 AM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
>> On 7/20/2019 8:40 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> On 7/19/2019 11:22 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>
>>>> Basic already has a lot of features that makes it better than C for
>>>> business applications and worse than C for operating systems.
>>>
>>> Just what in the Basic language, as implemented in VAX/DEC Basic is
>> worse for > OS work?
>>
>> The lack of a native pointer type and the lack of unsigned integers.
> 
> That's been mentioned before, and 32 bit vs 64 bit also.  Got to think 
> the integers would be an easy enhancement, and perhaps the pointers also.
> 
>> Yeah, you can work around it, but it's more than just a pain in the neck.
>>
>> I've written a rudimentary disk defragger in BASIC, just for the 
>> challenge.
>> It was "fun" to do, but why use a hammer when the correct tool is a 
>> ruler.
>>
>>
> 
> References to hammers always causes me to remember John Sechrist.  John 
> was a pretty handy jack of all trades.  His primary tool was the hammer.
> 
> John was doing a small job for me one day, which included installing 
> some small #6 x 3/4 screws.  When I went to check on the job, I watched 
> him take a nail, make a small hole, place a screw in the hole, and smack 
> it with his hammer.  When he noticed me he got a shit-eating grin on his 
> face, shrugged, and said "hey, it works".
> 
> Don't discount the usefulness of the hammer.
> 
> Back to computers, I know and like Basic.  I don't know C, and when I've 
> tried to read it, I get headaches.  Maybe the hammer is the correct tool 
> for some people.
> 

Would you be happy if you went in for an appendectomy and the
doctor came in with a chainsaw.  It is not the user that determines
the correct tool, it is the job.  Which brings us back around
to why C isn't really a bad language. Just cause a programmer
chose to use it for the wrong job...

bill