[Info-vax] VMS Software Releases Roadmap Updates

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 9/27/2021 1:34 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
> On 9/27/2021 1:04 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 9/27/2021 12:23 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> Looks as if x86 will be useless, for me, for more than a year ..
>>
>> 9.2 are expected out in April and are considered production ready.
>> So only a half year.
>>
>> *IF* you are willing to cross compile your Basic code on Itanium.
>>
>> But I fear that at least some people will question the "production
>> ready" status when native compilers are not available. That is
>> not a real issue (it is common for some types of system to
>> use cross compile), but it could very well be a perceived like
>> that.
> 
> For Basic, which is not optimizable, the quality of the generated code
> likely will not change from cross-compiled to natively compiled.
> 
> John will step in and correct me if I'm wrong . . .

My guess is that very few VMS people are concerned about
compiler optimization.

The typical VMS application ran fine on Alpha 20 years
ago, it could not get CPU usage over 10% on Itanium 10 years
ago and it will run fine on x86-64 /OPT or /NOOPT.

If you have a product owner for compilers setting the
priorities then I think they should be:
1) send the right signal to all PHB's that VMS x86-64 is real
2) option for 100% compatibility with VMS Itanium and Alpha
3) no bugs
4) relevant enhancements including compliance with newer standards
5) performance

Optimization is good long term and may be needed to attract new
VMS customers. But for the next 24 months I do not see it as
critical.

Arne