[Info-vax] Creating an open source version of VMS, was: Re: OpenVMS Hobbyist Notification

[Simon Clubley]

On 2020-03-10, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> On 3/10/2020 3:05 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>
>> Other things I would get rid of would include any support for Macro-32.
>
> Really off the wall, since Macro-32 is not part of the OS.

Oh yes it most certainly is.

The need to support Macro-32 as an application programming language is
the reason why the various VMS APIs look the way they do.

It's also one of the reasons why VMS needs mixed mode 32-bit/64-bit APIs
in the same process instead of just having a flag that says the current
process uses either 32-bit or 64-bit pointers and addressing by default.

>>
>> My point is that you can have a vastly improved design that looks nothing
>> like current VMS internally and yet still manages to present a strongly
>> compatible VMS environment to normal VMS application source code written
>> in C or other higher level languages.
>
> If all you want is a C environment, you already have it, leave VMS alone.
>

What part of "other higher level languages" did you not see in the last
part of the above ?

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.