[Info-vax] VAX Macro to C conversion

[Dave Froble]

On 7/20/2019 4:28 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> 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
>

Got a plate and screws removed from my ankle Monday.  They thought it 
might be causing some loss of movement in my foot.  And yes, I accused 
them of hiding a chainsaw under the table.

:-)

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
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