[Info-vax] wrong file format

[Dirk Munk]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 1/1/21 3:28 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 1/1/2021 11:39 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> On 1/1/2021 10:46 AM, Dirk Munk wrote:
>>>> Yes indeed. And all those files created by those Cobol programs can 
>>>> only
>>>> be used by other Cobol programs created by that compiler.
>>>
>>> I've got to challenge this statement.  The files are just data, and 
>>> many compilers can produce code that could use the data.  Might 
>>> require some special coding, but, it's possible.
>>
>> Of course data can be read. And with the correct library then data
>> can be interpreted correctly.
>>
>> But there is a difference between VMS and non-VMS.
>>
>> In the VMS world it is:
>>
>> Cobol program----Cobol RTL----|
>> Pascal program---Pascal RTL---|--RMS--RMS index sequential file format
>> Fortran program--Fortran RTL--|
>>
>> In the non-VMS world it is:
>>
>> Cobol vendor A program--Cobol vendor A RTL--vendor A ISAM file format
>> Cobol vendor B program--Cobol vendor B RTL--vendor B ISAM file format
>> Cobol vendor C program--Cobol vendor C RTL--vendor C ISAM file format
>>
>> where A, B and C ISAM file formats are different.
>>
>> Heck - GNU Cobol even comes in two flavors with two different ISAM 
>> file formats.
> 
> 
> Yes, but they are well documented and use underlying systems (like
> Berkeley DB) that work just fine with other languages and applications.
> 

That's not the point. VMS has a standard ISAM library (RMS), and all 
languages on VMS and even DCL use it. That is a lot easier than having 
to figure out which compiler can use which ISAM library, and if your 
application supplier uses that library.