[Info-vax] VMS Software needs to port VAX DIBOL to OpenVMS X86 platform

[Tad Winters]

On 12/16/2020 10:26 AM, Simon Clubley via Info-vax wrote:
> On 2020-12-16, mceculski2 at gmail.com <mceculski2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> YOU DIDN'T THINK I WOULD PASS ON A CHALLENGE DID YOU? :)
>> THAT WAS AN OLD VAX DIBOL CODE EXAMPLE NOT USING THE FOR LOOP STRUCTURE
>>
>> BEHOLD THE POWER OF SYNERGY DIBOL I THINK MY CPU PROCESS TIME WILL BEAT YOURS
>>
>
> $ set response/mode=good_natured
>
> Bob, you no longer need to use an ASR33 to post to comp.os.vms.
>
> Other input devices are available these days.
>
>>
>> RECORD MISC
>>       I              ,D2
>>       NUMBOT         ,D2,99                ;Default # of bottles to 99
>> PROC
>>       XCALL FLAGS (0007000000,1)           ;Suppress STOP message
>>       OPEN (15,O:C,"TT:")                  ;Open the terminal/display
>>       FOR I FROM NUMBOT THRU 1 BY -1
>>       DO
>>         BEGIN
>>           USING NUMBOT SELECT
>>             (1), BEGIN
>>                    DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottle of Beer on the wall.',13,10,13,10)
>>                    DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottle of Beer on the wall,',13,10)
>>                    DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottle of Beer,',13,10)
>>                    DISPLAY(15,'   Take one down, pass it around,',13,10)
>>                    DISPLAY(15,13,10,'Hey the Beer's gone, I am out of here...',13,10)
>>                  END
>>             (), BEGIN
>>                   DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottles of Beer on the wall,',13,10)
>>                   DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottles of Beer,',13,10)
>>                   DISPLAY(15,'   Take one down, pass it around,',13,10)
>>                   DISPLAY(15,NUMBOT<FORMAT:'ZX'>,' Bottles of Beer on the wall.',13,10,13,10)
>>                 END
>>           ENDSUING
>                ^^
> Perhaps you should have run it through a compiler first before posting. :-)
>
> BTW, it's the first time I've seen channel 15 used for TT: in a DIBOL
> program that I can remember. I always used to use channel 1 as it was
> the first channel I used to open in a program when DIBOL was the
> language I was using to write the program.
>
> What channel did others use for TT: ? Is channel 15 from something
> (such as someone's training sessions) that I never saw ?
>
>>         END
>>       SLEEP 2
>>       CLOSE 15
>>       STOP
>
> Simon.
>

The software company I worked for in the 90s used channel 15 for all
terminal I/O.  I have no explanation for this, but I'm going to guess it
may have been the highest channel number available on some PDP11 OS.

- Tad